Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter was supposed to represent a cultural shift from online censorship to free speech. Journalist Matt Taibbi led the charge to uncover a rat’s nest of censorship and collusion in the “Twitter Files,” documenting just how brazen the social media company’s attempts to cancel certain views truly were. After years of dissident and heterodox views biting the bullet on the platform, Musk supposedly wanted to produce a more open-ended form of online discourse. Nonetheless, the takeover came with practical drawbacks.

Musk soon chose to penalize external links on X, meaning that while you can still post article links to the platform, not as many people will see it. Musk wants to keep people inside the X ecosystem for as long as possible. In consequence, posting links to articles hosted by other internet domains became something of a fool’s errand, especially if those links came from a certain forbidden venue. As the blogging and self-publishing company Substack went from a niche option among expat journalists to widespread adoption among a range of writerly types, Musk feared there might be a commendable competitor in town. Substack includes a social media feature where users compose “notes,” only they don’t have a word limit, and the platform has only grown since Musk assumed leadership. Mary Harrington, the UnHerd columnist, put it well in her own (ironically) Substack note:

Elon Musk was afraid that Substack Notes would steal oxygen from Twitter, so he changed the algorithm to punish external links, thereby making Twitter vastly less useful and addictive and driving people to Substack Notes

It’s like a tiny Greek tragedy.

Writer Amanda Fortini lamented the decision on X itself in her own words.

An Explosion of Independent Voices

Independent writers have flocked to Substack in recent years. A number of legacy media big shots have immigrated to the platform as well. That doesn’t necessarily mean Substack will last forever, though, or maintain its attractive edge. Some writers (including myself) think Substack is turning into just another social media site, albeit for a more bookish audience. It has other drawbacks, too, including lack of editorial oversight, which can be especially helpful for a writer who’s just starting out in a career. I like to tell people that my first published essay was sent back with edits seven times. Editors aren’t perfect, but a good one can be invaluable in helping a piece fulfill its potential. However, entire publications, such as The Free Press, have started out as Substack channels and operate like a traditional newspaper. More collective publications followed suit. Literary sites like The Metropolitan Review, Inkwell, Pens and Poison, and A Republic of Letters also publish a variety of writers.

I use X to find interesting articles to explore and synthesize into my own writing, and it’s still possible, though more challenging, to use it for that purpose. Sharing one’s writing on the platform, however, might not offer much return on investment. Unless my following on X astronomically grows, not many people will even see what I share. Perhaps that’s why so many other writers are also opting for “the other place” (i.e. Substack).

Media’s Hazy Future

In any case, the future of digital media still looks like the wild west. As trust in legacy journalism erodes, more time and energy will get funneled into independent media. Musk presciently quipped, “You are the media now.” With ready access to online platforms, people all around the planet can film a tragedy on their phone or alert their social media followers about an unfolding situation. X has beat big-time media outlets in breaking significant news. Sharing that news, though, if it’s an external link, might get washed out by the tide of other media tidbits on the platform.

One literary and cultural journal, County Highway, has decided to skirt the online realm almost entirely and sends out its dispatches in the form of a 19th-century newspaper. You won’t get breaking news from this paper, but you will have the chance to glimpse more hidden parts of the American project, which more often than not, the media ignores. Maybe we need more of that kind of writing to cut through the jungle of digital verbiage we’ve made for ourselves.