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Liam O'Dell
Apr 09, 2023
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Twitter CEO Elon Musk just got a whole lot pettier in his management of the social media network, to the extent that he is now turning on past collaborators who have criticised his outlandish business decisions.
Author and journalist Matt Taibbi, who attracted attention in December for releasing what he called ‘The Twitter Files’ (but which actually turned out to be a total non-story), now seems to be hidden from searches on the platform.
The move comes after Taibbi confirmed on Friday that he would be moving to ‘Substack Notes’ – a new feature unveiled by the newsletter platform earlier this week which allows writers to “post short-form content and share ideas with each other and their readers – next week.
He tweeted: “Of all things: I learned earlier today that Substack links were being blocked on this platform. When asked why, I was told it’s a dispute over the new Substack Notes platform.
“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.”
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Yet despite other accounts tweeting evidence of Twitter warning Substack links “may be unsafe” and replacing searches for ‘Substack’ with ‘newsletter’, Musk responded to one account on Saturday to claim “Substack links were never blocked” and that Taibbi’s statement is “false”.
“Substack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted.
“Turns out Matt is/was an employee of Substack,” he added.
Meanwhile other Twitter users weren’t exactly sympathetic towards Taibbi, and were instead loving the drama:
\u201cMatt Taibbi\u2019s Twitter Files tweets haven\u2019t been deleted but it appears Twitter is blocking users from searching for any and all of his posts (including his Twitter Files tweets)\u201d— Matt Binder (@Matt Binder) 1680996711
\u201cWhat an opportunity for Matt Taibbi to learn firsthand about the perils of trusting billionaire tech moguls as the custodians of free speech and public discourse.\u201d— Jacob Silverman (@Jacob Silverman) 1680995201
\u201cSeems like Musk just nuked the whole Twitter archive of his pet journalist Matt Taibbi? You can see his feed, but you can\u2019t search his old tweets in the way you can anyone else on Twitter. So this appears to be a targeted attack in the Musk-Taibbi feud. Bet there\u2019s a story here.\u201d— Seth Abramson (@Seth Abramson) 1681004094
\u201cWondering when Matt Taibbi will spill the tea on Musk now that Musk is tossing him out like yesterday\u2019s news.\u201d— Mueller, She Wrote (@Mueller, She Wrote) 1680999319
\u201cElon Musk stabbing Matt Taibbi in the back should serve as a warning to left or \u201cpost-left\u201d journalists who ally with right-wing billionaires: YOU don\u2019t use them; THEY use you. And when they\u2019re done, they cast you aside like trash.\u201d— LeftOfTheDial (@LeftOfTheDial) 1681005906
\u201cMatt Taibbi announcing he\u2019s leaving Twitter is a real \u201cI didn\u2019t think leopards would eat my face\u201d moment\u201d— Mike Drucker (@Mike Drucker) 1680901194
\u201cElon Musk has unfollowed Matt Taibbi\u201d— Matt Binder (@Matt Binder) 1680900265
\u201cNone of Matt Taibbi's tweets are showing up in search anymore. No results for "from:mtaibbi". No results for searching for the content of specific tweets.\n\nThis is deeply hilarious and troubling.\u201d— Alexandra Erin | alexandraerin@peoplemaking.games (@Alexandra Erin | alexandraerin@peoplemaking.games) 1680998770
While all this is going on, Substack said in a statement that the “suppression of Substack publications” on the platform “appears to be over”.
It reads: “This is the right move for writers, who deserve the freedom to share their work. 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.”
Whether Musk will resolve his tantrum over Taibbi’s decision to leave the platform, however, is yet to be seen…
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