Elon Musk Lashes Out at Former Ally Matt Taibbi in Growing Feud
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Elon Musk is in an escalating feud with investigative journalist and former ally Matt Taibbi, following the latter’s announcement that he would be leaving Twitter over claims that the social-media company was stifling the dissemination of Substack content.
Responding to the claim that Substack links are being blocked, Musk called the allegation “false” in a tweet on Saturday morning. “Substack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted,” the social-media chief said. “Turns out Matt is/was an employee of Substack.”
1. Substack links were never blocked. Matt’s statement is false.
2. Substack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted.
3. Turns out Matt is/was an employee of Substack.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2023
Twitter users later flagged and fact-checked Musk’s claims through a feature known as “Community Notes.” The note affixed below Musk’s comments cited research that Twitter has indeed “throttled” Substack content and that Taibbi is not an employee of the company.
Substack co-founder Chris Best also challenged Musk’s interpretation of the situation, insisting “none of this is true,” in a message published on the company’s new social-media platform, Notes.
“Substack links have been obviously throttled on Twitter. Anyone using the product can see this,” Best argued. “This is very frustrating. It’s one thing to mess with Substack, but quite another to treat writers this way.”
On Friday, Taibbi, who along with other journalists had worked with Musk in revealing the contents of sensitive documents concerning the company’s inner workings (dubbed the “Twitter Files”), publicly stated that he was planning on ditching the social-media platform. “Of all things: I learned earlier today that Substack links were being blocked on this platform. When I asked why, I was told it’s a dispute over the new Substack Notes platform,” Taibbi tweeted.
“Since sharing links to my articles is a primary reason I come to this platform, I was alarmed and asked what was going on. I was given the option of posting articles on Twitter instead. I’m obviously staying at Substack, and will be moving to Substack Notes next week.”
Of all things: I learned earlier today that Substack links were being blocked on this platform.
When I asked why, I was told it’s a dispute over the new Substack Notes platform…
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) April 7, 2023
However, the two platforms appeared to have resolved their dispute by Saturday night, with Substack claiming the “suppression” has stopped. It’s unclear whether Taibbi is reconsidering his decision to leave in light of this.
“We’re glad to see that the suppression of Substack publications on Twitter appears to be over. This is the right move for writers, who deserve the freedom to share their work,” the company wrote in a statement.
“We believe that Twitter and Substack can continue to coexist and complement each other. We look forward to making Substack Notes available soon, but we expect it to be a new kind of place within a subscription network, not a replacement for existing social networks.”
We’re glad to see that the suppression of Substack publications on Twitter appears to be over. This is the right move for writers, who deserve the freedom to share their work.
— Substack (@SubstackInc) April 9, 2023
