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Twitter users on Friday began to notice that they were unable to retweet or reply to tweets containing links to the Substack.com domain. The action appears to have come less than 48 hours after the popular newsletter platform announced a new product called Notes that would compete directly with Twitter.
for example, this tweet See my newsletter, undergroundingai.substack.com. When I try to retweet, I get the error he message, “Some actions for this tweet have been disabled by Twitter.” If you try to reply to the same Tweet, you’ll get an error message that says, “There was a problem, don’t worry, we’ll try again.” Even if you like it, it is not allowed.
this tweet Same, except I linked to my custom domain, Understandingai.org. No problem to like, retweet or reply.
In the last 24 hours, Twitter also appears to have started blocking tweet embeds in substack posts.
“We are investigating reports that Twitter embedding and authentication no longer work on Substack,” says Substack murmured on thursday. “We are actively working to resolve this and will share an update as additional information becomes available.”
An email was sent to Twitter’s official press email address, press@twitter.com, for comment. Twitter will automatically reply to all emails on that account with a “?” message. Twitter appears to have laid off most of the press shop, so expect no further reaction. Tesla he disbanded her PR department three years ago.
But it’s not hard to guess why Twitter started restricting tweets about Substack. On Wednesday, Substack announced his Notes feature. It’s very similar to Twitter.
“Notes allows writers to post short-form content and share ideas with each other and readers,” Substack wrote in a blog post. “Like the Recommendations feature, Notes is designed to drive discovery across substacks. , provides the ability to recommend almost anything, including links.”
This isn’t the first time Twitter has restricted a rival’s reach on the platform. Banned some tech reporters. This drained users to his Twitter rivals such as Mastodon. A few days later, Twitter began blocking his Mastodon and other competing social media links to his platform.
As I write this, a tweet linking to Mastodon’s account seems to be working again.
Substack has not yet responded to an email requesting comment. If I get a response, I will update the story.
Tim Lee was on staff at Ars from 2017-2021. He recently launched his new Substack newsletter, Understanding AI. Explore how AI works and how it is changing our world. You can subscribe to his newsletter here.
