A day after Substack announced its plans to create “Notes,” a feature akin to Twitter, the microblogging platform replied by forbidding interaction with postings that contained links to Substack.
Twitter displays the notification “Some actions on this Tweet have been disabled by Twitter” when users attempt to retweet or like a post that contains a Substack link on their desktop version.
On the other side, like or retweeting tweets with comparable links did not function on mobile devices.
The functionality of tweets containing links to Substack newsletters with a different or distinctive domain or shorter URLs, however, also seems to be unaffected.
Here was Substack's announcement about their new Notes thing: https://t.co/sLlagMgRhn
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) April 6, 2023
The creators of Substack, Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Sethi, expressed their disappointment at Twitter’s decision to limit writers’ ability to share their work in a statement to NBC News.
“Writers should be able to freely distribute links to Substack and other websites. This unexpected transition serves as a reminder of why authors deserve a model that puts them in charge, compensates excellent work, and upholds free expression and the press, according to the statement.
Their livelihoods shouldn’t be dependent on platforms where the regulations are subject to change at any time and where they don’t control their audience relationships.
“Imagine Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leaving a comment on Margaret Atwood’s note about trends in science fiction, or Alison Roman sharing a quote from an amazing recipe developed by a little-known food writer who then receives a flood of subscriptions,” Substack said, while acknowledging that it was a rival to Twitter.
Users voiced their ire at Twitter CEO Elon Musk, citing constraints.
Ahahaha @elonmusk's crew disabled interactions and replies to even this tweet. Amazing. Free speech absolutism babeeee pic.twitter.com/B8namIPYgq
— Jonathan M. Katz’s newsletter is called The Racket (@KatzOnEarth) April 7, 2023
Since its debut in 2017, Substack has grown in recognition among writers. They drew new readers by tweeting about their newsletters. While certain Substacks are free, there is a fee associated with accessing the newsletter.
