by Sharon Rondeau
(Apr. 9, 2023) — On Saturday Twitter CEO Elon Musk took issue with a Substack post and tweets from journalist and “Racket” editor Matt Taibbi, who was the first, last and most frequent reporter of the “Twitter Files” made available by Musk himself after he purchased the company in late October.
A lively conversation was taking place on the platform Sunday morning under the trend “Twitter Files,” which was in first position as of 10:26 a.m. EDT.
On Friday, as The Post & Email reported, Taibbi posted a Substack column stating he would “leave Twitter” as a result of the platform’s objection to his links leading to his work on Substack and the latter’s new short-posting option, “Notes,” which Musk sees as a competitor to Twitter.
In his posts Taibbi did not name Musk or anyone at the company specifically. “Earlier this afternoon, I learned Substack links were being blocked on Twitter,” he wrote Friday. “Since being able to share my articles is a primary reason I use Twitter, I was alarmed and asked what was going on…It turns out Twitter is upset about the new Substack Notes feature, which they see as a hostile rival. When I asked how I was supposed to market my work, I was given the option of posting my articles on Twitter instead of Substack.”
Some Twitter users reported being unable to find Taibbi’s Twitter account or “Twitter Files” reports on the platform, although as of this writing, The Post & Email was able to access Taibbi’s last “Files” report, dated March 17, 2023.
On Saturday Musk termed Taibbi’s statement “false” as to “Substack links” being “blocked.” “Substack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted,” Musk wrote.
Further, he said, “Turns out Matt is/was an employee of Substack.”
As of publication, The Post & Email is not able to locate the tweet in Musk’s timeline, but from a planned vacation, Taibbi issued a post Sunday morning titled, “A Few Clarifications” apparently addressing Musk’s claim of his employment with Substack:
I’ve been caught up in a feud between companies, and some things have been said. Just to clarify:
I’ve never been a Substack employee. I have my own company, but I’m employed by subscribers. I have some loyalty to Substack, a company that’s always treated me well, and whose original Substack Pro offer made it possible for a person with kids like me to leave mainstream journalism.
One of the things that attracted me to Substack was that it was as close to censor-proof a platform as could be found. The distribution system, e-mail, isn’t governed by one actor (though Google’s gmail size limit is an example of a kind of limiting factor). Management could be a weak point, but Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, Jairaj Sethi, and others have repeatedly shown a disinclination to get involved with content decisions. Some calls have been difficult, and I’m glad they take them seriously.
According to journalist Jordan Schachtel on Friday, who also writes at Substack, “Twitter now has a warning label up on Su—ack posts, claiming the links ‘may be unsafe,’ furthering the smear campaign against the independent publishing platform.”
“A guy worth 200 billion dollars is damaging the ability of people who are mostly trying to make a few extra bucks a month,” Schachtel added, along with the graphic below of the “warning” he apparently received.
As some observers reported, a Twitter search for Taibbi’s account yielded no results for this writer as of 12:35 p.m. EDT, while other accounts such as Musk’s were responsive.
