JAKARTA - Twitter has started tagging links to Substacks as unsafe. If you click on a link on Twitter leading to a substack.com, Twitter will display a separate warning that tells you that "the links you are trying to access have been identified by Twitter or our partners as potentially spam or unsafe."
However, don't worry - based on The Verge's examination, the link is actually safe. This warning appears to be Twitter's latest unfriendly move towards Substack after the news platform launched a "Notes" feature similar to Twitter on Wednesday, April 5.
On Thursday, April 6, Twitter blocked Substack users from embedding tweets into their stories. Then, at the end of Thursday or early Friday, Twitter began blocking engagement on tweets containing links to Substacks; users couldn't like or retweet them, but could still retweet them by quoting them. Then, on Friday morning, Twitter imposed the same restrictions on tweets from the official Substack account.
While these measures are clearly unfriendly, unsafe warnings can be classified as aggressive measures. Twitter's URL policy has not changed since 2020, according to the latest updated note on the page, and the Substack site appears to be working as usual, making it difficult to say what is the reason Twitter is for providing the warning.
CEO Elon Musk hasn't tweeted anything about Substack recently, and when contacted for comment, Twitter's press email provided an automatic reply in the form of a dirty emoji, which he has been doing since mid-March.
The idea that emerged was a Notes feature from Substack, which added elements very similar to Twitter to the news platform. Matt Taibbi, a journalist with a history of reporting stories to Musk, said on Friday 7 April that he was told by an unnamed party that "Twitter is angry about the new Substack Notes feature, which they see as a hostile competitor." He also noted that he was given the option to post his articles on Twitter rather than Substack.
In December, Musk said he considered "competitive competitor advertising" a policy violation and blocked sharing links to Instagram, Mastodon, Facebook, and others. However, the restrictions were later removed.
Chances are he has decided to revive it now after feeling Substack is trying to compete with Twitter, although keep in mind that, at least for now, you can still tweet the Substack link. Everyone who tries to join the link only needs to click on a warning to access the content.
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