Twitter vs Substack
Numerous outlets today have reported that Elon Musk’s Twitter has barred a number of interactions with Substack.
Vice reported that Twitter users ‘noticed this morning that they were unable to like, retweet, or reply to tweets that link to Substack—though, oddly, they could quote-tweet them.’ Tweets that are not compatible with Twitter’s new policy receive the notification ‘some actions on this Tweet have been disabled by Twitter.’ Adam Tooze has tweeted that you can no longer embed Tweets in Substack posts. Adam Bienkov, political editor of Byline Times, reported that he could not reply to his own Tweet if it has a Substack link in it.
In response, on his Substack, Adam Bienkov has written that it ‘seems that the richest man on the planet has decided, on a whim, to make it even harder for genuinely independent journalism to survive.’
We will see what happens now. If Twitter persists with blocking other platforms in this way, it may in fact hasten its demise. One obvious reason to use Twitter is to find and share content. If you take that away it will create a bigger space for alternatives. But in the short-term Twitter has some power.
Readers of this Substack can help counter the effects of Twitter’s latest turn. I will add recommendations of other Substacks with my own posts, to draw attention to them whilst they are being blocked elsewhere. I’ve added two today.
And there are links to many of my Substack posts for sharing over on Facebook here - please think about liking and sharing the Facebook page to encourage distribution.