Authors on Substack, a famous platform for creating and distributing newsletters, can no longer promote their work on Twitter. For a few hours, Elon Musk’s social network has added blocks to any tweet that contains a link to the domain. Although the content of the link can be seen on the social network, it is not possible to retweet or bookmark it. When trying, a message on the screen explains that “Twitter has disabled some actions related to this tweet.”
The lock works both ways. Newsletter authors have also discovered that it is no longer possible to embed tweets in the texts they write, a feature that is still active for other domains and media outlets.
The decision is reminiscent of the blockade that Twitter imposed last December on other direct competitors, such as Mastodon. Although Substack is a service for writing newsletters that are sent to email, this week it launched Substack Notes, a new product that allows authors to write shorter ideas and messages, and that works as an alternative to Twitter in a way. .
Those responsible for Substack have been surprised by the decision. “This type of blocking is a reminder of why authors need a platform that prioritizes them, rewards their work with money, and thereby protects press freedom and freedom of expression,” they said.
One of Substack’s defining features is that it includes several subscription tools through which authors can receive revenue. Musk has promised that Twitter Blue subscribers will soon be able to receive part of the ad revenue generated from replies to their tweets, but there is no date yet for this new feature.
Musk has not yet ruled on the decision, but it is not the first time that he capriciously decides to change the rules and limits of Twitter. The exodus of some Twitter users to Mastodon, for example, led Musk to change the API rules to avoid services like MoveToDon, which Twitter users automatically searched for in the new service, or Moa Bridge, a tool to simultaneously write to both. social networks.
Last year, Musk also decided to shut down any unofficial Twitter clients without notice, a practice that Twitter’s former leadership not only welcomed but actively promoted. A few days later, he modified the Twitter rules to justify his decision.
The blocking of Substack, however, is more worrying because many newsletter authors maintain an active presence on Twitter and use the social network to convince readers to subscribe. The list also includes many journalists, especially Americans, with great influence.
The decision also clashes with the supposed emphasis that Musk wanted to give to “freedom of expression” on his platform and which, according to him, was one of the reasons that led him to pay 44,000 million dollars for the social network, a price that most analysts consider it too high. Musk himself has recently recognized that the real value of Twitter is not even half.
Musk is facing a serious financial problem with his social network. Before his arrival, more than 90% of Twitter’s revenue depended on advertising. Advertisers, however, have fled en masse due to the uncertainty of its chaotic management system and the decision to re-admit far-right figures to the social network who had been expelled for posting violent messages.
Musk’s plan involves compensating for this loss of advertiser with the Twitter Blue subscription service, which already existed before the purchase, but which has been modified -and increased in price- and now includes the possibility of obtaining the coveted verification symbol that until recently it was limited exclusively to celebrities and professionals who ran the risk of being impersonated.
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