Elon Musk doesn’t want you to share links from Substack, the blogging and newsletter platform that has grown in popularity over the last two years and serves as the primary mode of expression for independent Internet writers. Musk, to his credit, was appalled by the blatant censorship at Twitter, and vowed in his takeover of the platform to restore free speech as its central value.

But Twitter, now X, has its problems beyond shadow banning and censorship. In short, it’s penalizing Substack. Substack has evolved beyond just a newsletter curator and now includes its own social media feature where writers and readers can follow each other, share work, and form “chats.” It’s a great platform for writers. It’s elegant, easy to use, and can be monetized through paid subscribers. Musk, though, has tried to make X more friendly toward “content creators.” There’s no more 40-character cap on posts for premium subscribers. If you pay monthly, you can write whole articles on X, and post videos longer than two minutes. This is presumably why Tucker Carlson, after his exit from Fox News, now does his show independently on X. The platform is starting to resemble YouTube, or is trying to, anyway.

Substack, though, is not essentially a social media site but a place where writers can blog what they want. And their stance on free speech has been remarkably consistent and positive. Substack also revived a somewhat faded Internet blogging tradition, which was damaged by the social media revolution. Writer Richard Hanania writes,

No, Substack didn’t recreate and replace Google, but until recently blogging was generally acknowledged to be a dying art form after a golden age in the early days of the internet. Substack has helped bring it back, and more independent and interesting voices seem to be gaining at the expense of established media outlets and those who work best with 280 characters or less. This shows that there is still room for dynamism and innovation to help solve problems that seem intractable. Sometimes, a market solution doesn’t involve making a carbon copy of an established product, but creating something completely new, or in this case resurrecting a practice that appeared to be on the decline. 

Why You Should Be on Substack (richardhanania.com)

Substack isn’t social media, even though it seems to be incorporating more of that sort of forum, as mentioned above. And Musk seems to envision X as something beyond brief hot takes and cat videos. The integration of longform types of content make that clear.

In any case, Musk sees Substack as a competitor. And maybe that’s simply how it goes in a free market system. However, the folks who criticized X when it was still Twitter have the same grounding to critique Musk for suppressing Substack. You can still share Substack blogs to X, but the algorithm punishes you for it. Authors have to basically find loopholes to share articles by posting the cover art for the piece and then hiding the link in a comment. I am pretty new to X, and so don’t have a whole lot of followers, but could easily tell that my shared Substack link was getting next to zero impressions.

Ideologically speaking, Musk should champion emerging platforms like Substack. The founders of the blogging platform share his appreciation for free speech. But again, the impulse of a billionaire like him is probably straightforward: competition. Musk has additionally criticized the rapid development of artificial intelligence, and even signed a petition a few months ago advocating for a pause on AI research. However, Musk helped fund OpenAI and is now developing his own AI system called “Grok.” He even has plans to create a new “supercomputer.” But he thinks we’re rushing AI research?

Substack very well could the future of independent writing. As mainstream journalism shrinks and writers flock to the freedom of the platform, we could see Substack grow even more exponentially. It will be interesting to see what kind of intellectual and creative climate that will lead to. Rob Henderson, the bestselling author of Troubled, who runs a highly successful Substack channel, told Richard Hanania in a recent interview that timing was paramount for him. “I had a lot of growth that first year on Substack,” he said. “It like doubled in size. But then, yeah, I am noticing it’s harder and harder to get new subscribers. But yeah, I think that period from like 2020 to 2022, that was like the peak of Substack.”

With more and more people hopping on Substack, people will have to get more selective with what they choose to read. Maybe this will mean a return to the wild west of blogging. There will be a lot of choices, including bad ones, but as long as Substack stays committed to free speech, writers won’t have to worry about being shown the door.