Quick recap: Substack is a popular subscription newsletter platform for authors. Last week, Notes was added to its app. It’s very similar to Twitter.
Twitter, currently owned by Elon Musk, responded by blocking users from liking or retweeting any posts that contain the word “Substack”, and then warning users if they clicked on Substack hyperlinks. Finally, Substack was blocked from being searched. Substack users are mainly small-business owners who depend on Substack for enterprise software. They responded by mostly saying that they would use Substack Notes. There’s more, but this is a combination platter of funny and tedious given the personalities involved.
Musk replied to this week’s email by saying that Substack was trying to “download a large portion of the Twitter Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter copy”. This is very funny. Just imagine creating any type of Twitter competitor and populating it with the trash of Twitter — . It’s a big claim to make, but without any proof.CEO Chris Best’s Substack Notes blog.
Substack CEO Chris Best replied to Elon with a Substack Notes post. Although the feature is still in beta, there is no permalink. However, Chris Best passed it on to us. We’re posting a screenshot for people to refer to.
Best claims Substack uses the Twitter API over the years and believes they are in compliance with the terms. This implies that Twitter has never informed the company of any alleged violations. Best said that the situation was “very frustrating” and referred to the fact Substack writers are customers for his enterprise software product. Using Substack links can have more impact on small businesses than on the platform company.
It’s worth noting that Andreesen Horowitz, an investor in Substack as well as neoTwitter is something that is going really well. If you are reading this, you might just be reacting to the words “free speech,” Twitter, and “Elon Musk”. This will probably kick off your Saturday night. You can trust me. Get out there and party hard.
