There’s an old adage: today’s news is tomorrow’s chip paper. For anyone outside the UK, it essentially means that news—and the attention it garners—moves on fast. Nowhere is this truer than when it comes to products, influencers, and technology. That said, some topics tend to be very cyclical (note-taking apps on micro.blog, anyone?), and fortunately, the discussion about Substack has cycled back to the forefront.
Before Anil Dash’s excellent post a few days ago, I was disappointed to see how many people had either returned to Substack or started using it anew. If you’ve forgotten, there was a strong movement to abandon Substack only 11 months ago—a movement I supported by deleting my subscriptions, waiting for my favourite newsletters to move away due to Substack’s “Nazi problem”.
This isn’t up for debate. There’s no argument over whether there was an issue—there was, and there still is. This video from Decoder should be motivation enough to pack your stuff up and leave a platform that won’t remove content expressing racism as blatantly as Nilay puts it to their CEO. Like I said, there’s no debate here. Unless you’re John Gruber because, “If I never see it, I don’t care.”
It’s Not WordPress
Another argument I’ve heard is that it doesn’t matter because Substack is “just a hosting company.” Admittedly, it was a pretty great one—until all of this started. Free hosting for your newsletter, blog, and podcast—where’s the catch?
Well, here it is, folks. The fact is, Substack is not just a host for your content like WordPress, Ghost, or micro.blog. It uses your content to pitch others on their platform, recommends other publications alongside yours, and pushes its users toward its Twitter clone, Notes, which allows people to post some truly terrible things.
As Anil points out, Substack has now become a noun. When people say things like “subscribe to my Substack” (which they really shouldn’t), you can’t use the passive “just a hosting company” excuse. WordPress may host your website, and its CEO might go a bit crazy and start a feud with another billionaire, but that doesn’t directly impact your blog. However, when Substack uses your content to legitimise some of the worst society has to offer, it’s not just me being annoyed—you should be annoyed too.
Forgetting
Yet here we are, months later. Substack still exists. High-profile people don’t care and continue to open new accounts instead of searching for better options. And the world keeps spinning. It’s remarkable how quickly people forget. Even when something as serious as this happens, it only takes a few weeks to blow over. Perhaps I expect too much as someone who consumes a large volume of publications.
I have no issue with where you choose to host your content—that’s entirely up to you as a writer. However, much like the people still buying Teslas or still posting on X, know that people will be judging you. Most importantly, post somewhere you can own your content. Please.