So much for “absolute freedom of speech”.
Twitter censors Substack links by making posts impossible to reply to, like, or retweet. While the quote tweet is working, simply hitting the Retweet button causes an error message: “Some actions in this Tweet have been disabled by Twitter.”
The timing of this action does not seem coincidental. A couple of days ago, Substack launched its own Notes feature, which is very similar to Twitter. Unlike other new Twitter alternatives, Substack has a huge advantage: people are already using the platform, and many writers already have a massive following there. Among them are writers Matt Taibi and Barry Weiss, whom Twitter owner Elon Musk partnered with to post “The Twitter Files.”
Under Musk’s ownership, Twitter has also taken steps to suppress content from Mastodon, an open source social network that gained a sudden influx of users when Musk took control of Twitter. In December, Twitter temporarily suspended Mastodon’s account and prohibited posting links to Mastodon’s servers.
“We are disappointed that Twitter has chosen to limit writers’ ability to share their work. “Writers deserve the freedom to share links to Substack or elsewhere,” Substack’s founders wrote in an emailed statement. “Their livelihoods should not be tied to platforms where they do not own their relationship with their audience, and where the rules can change on a whim.”
Musk is an active critic of mainstream media, going so far as to misleadingly describe “state media” on NPR’s account. These posters are usually reserved for publications that do not have editorial independence from the state government, but the government has no role in NPR’s content; Additionally, the news organization received only about 1% of its budget from federal funding in 2020.
Substack is described as an alternative to mainstream media, giving writers a platform to earn subscription revenue with very little editorial curation. Similar to Musk’s own views on content moderation, Substack takes a “hands-off” approach — the newsletter site has even come under fire for choosing not to step in when writers spread misinformation about vaccines.
Anyway, you didn’t hear this from us, but if you link to Substack via a redirected URL, it appears to be posting without restrictions.