Twitter Blocked Substack

(It’s been unblocked since I drafted this, but the sentiment still applies.)

I should have been more upset about this because Twitter is my sole means of distribution via social media (other than Substack itself) after I nixed my Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin accounts a few years ago. But it feels more like an opportunity. 

I’ve been meaning to dive more deeply into NOSTR, a new protocol (rather than a platform) that has much of the same functionality as Twitter, but totally decentralized. There is no possibility of censorship because there is no owner in whose interest it is to censor, no corporate headquarters on which the “disinformation” industry can lean. There are no advertisers, and you own your own data entirely. It’s a bit like Bitcoin in that you have a private and public key you control, and as long as you keep the former safe, no one will have access to your account. 

The problem with NOSTR is no one follows me there, so when I post an idea or link to a Substack column, no one reads it. That’s why I’ve mostly stuck with Twitter these last months. But Elon Musk blocking Substack changes the incentives — if I can’t distribute my work to my followers anyway, why not start from scratch in a new place where a ban of that sort isn’t even possible. It’s like I’m immigrating from a tyrannical country to a free one, but I had to leave all my wealth behind. That’s okay — in the land of opportunity and freedom, I should be able to build a better life. 

Without the block, I probably wouldn’t have gotten my act together to make the move, just like without RotoWire being sold, I don’t know if I would ever have launched my own site. Whether it’s ultimately better or worse on both counts, we’ll see, but sometimes you need that kick in the ass to get going and try something new. It also made me realize the mindset of conventionally successful people who have no interest in Bitcoin. Why leave a system that’s rewarded you for so long and to which you’re well adapted? Concepts like freedom, sovereignty and autonomy often aren’t properly understood except in their absence. 

The other silver lining is it reveals something about Elon Musk’s character. He seemed to be aboard the free speech bandwagon but only so long as it served his commercial goals. Now that Substack is a competitor of sorts, he was willing to reduce the reach of the myriad dissident voices that reside there, while not instituting a similar block for legacy media outlets. I don’t think he particularly favors one group over the other, but that’s the point — the “free speech” schtick in retrospect feels like another marketing ploy, not something done out of principle.

(If you want to read a savage takedown of Musk by the normally restrained and civil-to-a-fault Lyn Alden, check out this NOSTR post. Or you can consider my allegorical hypothesis about Musk from last spring.) 

In any case, henceforth I’ll still use Twitter, but mostly as a distribution vehicle — I aim to keep anything interesting or original on NOSTR, Substack and Chrisliss.com.

Incidentally my public NOSTR key is: 

npub1dtf79g6grzc48jqlfrzc7389rx08kn7gm03hsy9qqrww8jgtwaqq64hgu0

I encourage people to sign up and play around with the protocol.