Substack says Twitter “unexpectedly restricted access to embedding tweets”; Twitter seems to have disabled likes and RTs for some tweets with Substack links
Writers trying to embed tweets in their Substack stories are in for a rude surprise: after pasting a link to the site …
The immediate pressure also highlighted Substack Notes as an alternative social channel: one prominent writer said he would move activity there after the link blocking. Twitter later restored likes, reposts, and replies for Substack-linked posts, though its Substack search treatment remained limited.
First-order effects
Substack publishers lose a routine way to display Twitter posts inside newsletters and posts, while Twitter users see reduced engagement functions on at least some posts that link back to Substack.
Twitter can reduce the reach and utility of outbound Substack promotion on its service; Substack must rely more heavily on channels it controls.
Second-order effects
Writers and newsletter operators have a stronger incentive to diversify audience acquisition rather than depend on Twitter links and embeds, especially when moderation labels compound distribution friction.
Substack Notes gains a clearer competitive use case as a social distribution layer when Twitter’s restrictions affect Substack-linked conversations; the reported creator shift makes that connection concrete.
Third-order effects
If major social platforms routinely limit features for emerging adjacent products, publishers will place greater value on owned audiences and interoperable distribution rather than platform-specific engagement tools.
The episode points to intensifying competition between social feeds and creator-publishing platforms, where control of referrals, embeds, and search visibility can become a competitive lever rather than neutral infrastructure.
The trend: Creator platforms are building their own discovery layers as dependence on incumbent social networks becomes a strategic distribution risk.
In other news, any link with substack in its name is now blocked on Twitter. You can post it, but you cannot like it or comment on it or retweet it. Things that happen when your equity value is zero ...
Twitter is haphazardly cutting off API access to feedreaders, bot-makers, and would-be competitors. “Overall I'm not surprised to find Twitter's changes rolling out unpredictably.” https://www.theverge.com/...
Wednesday: Substack announces they are working on a Twitter-competitive feature called Notes. Friday: tweets linking to the https://substack.com/ domain (like my substack understandingai dot substack dot com) can't be retweeted or replied to. Incredible coincidence. https://twitt…
We're investigating reports that Twitter embeds and authentication no longer work on Substack. We are actively trying to resolve this and will share updates as additional information becomes available.
“'I'll confess I expected it to be a ratelimit, not the API key being revoked, though,” they said, before adding, “But overall I'm not surprised to find Twitter's changes rolling out unpredictably.'” RIP to Cheap Bots, Done Quick, source of so much joy. https://www.theverge.com/.…
lol... that insecure c.unt Musk is blocking shadow-blocking Substack links No Twitter thread for today's newsletter Thread will be on my Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/...
Oh, well I guess we'll have to move to Revue, the Substack competitor owned and integrated into Twitter... Oops, Twitter shut it down a few weeks ago. https://twitter.com/...
Elon cuts off embedding tweets in Substack newsletters - like mine - the day after Substack announces a new Twitter-like feature they're developing. Coincidence? Maybe. A really, really braindead business decision? Absolutely. #ParForTheCourse https://twitter.com/...
another self-defeating move by elon musk. cutting off embeds just means people will be less likely to refer back to stuff happening on twitter or just include some random tweets for fun in their newsletters. https://www.theverge.com/...
@SubstackInc Yes, please prioritize this. I wasn't able to use Twitter links in my Substack post today and needed to screenshot five tweets and cut other stuff out