'Having a Substack feels dirty': Substack ‘Pro’ Announcement Leads to Departures from the Platform, Opportunities for Competitors

Substack has lost several high-profile writers in recent days thanks to a new initiative that weakens its claims of editorial impartiality. As the platform figures out its position on content moderation—a lightning rod for media in recent years—emerging competitors, and even stalwarts like Facebook, stand to benefit. On Friday, the prominent feminist writer Jude Ellison Sady Doyle penned a post accusing the newsletter platform of offering financial incentives to writers to lure them to its platform, including several whose politics have been condemned by those in marginalized communities. Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie responded to the accusation, admitting the existence of a fledgling program called Substack Pro, which the platform had kept secret in a “figuring it out” phase. The revelation set off a chain reaction, as questions about the editorial impartiality of the newsletter service led a number of high-profile Substack writers to leave the platform in solidarity with the transgender community. Substack departures could spike growth in other platforms Following the announcement of its Substack Pro program, the platform that billed itself as a solution to media polarization has inadvertently become a source of it. As the newsletter space grows more saturated, the gaffe could create opportunities for other email-service providers looking to poach Substack’s user base. Kerel Cooper, the chief marketing officer of the email marketing firm LiveIntent, said that the politicization of Substack could lead some of its users to reconsider their choice of newsletter provider. “If what [Substack] says and does start to disconnect from their original mission and beliefs, that's when you start to lose the consumer,” Cooper said. Several journalists took to Twitter to mull over the best alternatives to Substack, suggesting Medium, TinyLetter, Bear Blog, Ghost, Buttondown, and ConvertKit, among others. No other newsletter provider offers a free service like Substack, which can complicate the choice to migrate platforms. To be associated with those names by having a Substack feels dirty.—Alicia Kennedy, Substack writer Tech journalist Casey Newton, who uses Substack and received a healthcare subsidy from the company, suggested the timing of the debacle bodes especially ill for Substack, given that Facebook just announced its intentions to build a newsletter platform, though Facebook is far from free of its own controversies surrounding content moderation. “If I were Substack ... I would lean all the way away from the culture war — and toward building products and services that generate more revenue, for more people, than anyone else does,” Newton wrote on Tuesday. “Because if Substack doesn’t, someone else will. And it might just be Mark Zuckerberg.” Mel Magazine to Launch Paid Newsletters How did we get here? The free speech remix Substack has drawn criticism for offering safe harbor to a number of writers, including writer Andrew Sullivan, Jesse Singal and Glenn Greenwald, whose opinions on issues surrounding race, transgender rights and censorship have been condemned by many in marginalized communities. The newsletter platform had countered claims that it supports these writers’ perspectives by emphasizing that its decision to host their accounts was a service to free speech, not an endorsement of their viewpoints. However, when McKenzie revealed the existence of Substack Pro, critics accused the platform of forfeiting its claim of editorial neutrality. Substack did not return Adweek's request for comment. Doyle, the feminist writer, vowed to leave shortly after reading McKenzie’s defense of Substack’s position, even after receiving an offer that included Substack Pro compensation. Freelance writer Safy-Hallan Farah, Defector Media journalist Kelsey McKinney and queer writer Britni de la Cretaz also announced their departures from the platform. Other writers, including the founder of The IX Newsletter Howard Megdal, co-founder of The Objective Gabe Schneider and freelance journalist Mary Retta announced they were evaluating the situation and exploring their options for moving. Even Alicia Kennedy, one of the platform’s most celebrated success stories, said the issue was the final straw for her. "[Substack] has been telling us they're a platform, but they clearly have an editorial agenda that they're pushing,” Kennedy told Adweek. “It's not one that is in line with my thinking, and it's dangerous. To be associated with those names by having a Substack feels dirty.” Substack has since confirmed, in a post published earlier today, that it does not fund writer advances using its 10% cut of subscription revenue. The platform has raised more than $17 million in venture capital financing, and it likely drew on these funds to underwrite the Substack Pro initiative. McKenzie wrote that the platform viewed Substack Pro as a “business decision,” a form of investment in its product that would theoretically yield future dividends. However, the program strains the limits of editorial impartiality, as it shows a company intentionally recruiting certain writers to join its ranks. “Once you start deciding which writers deserve advances and which of them don't, what you have is a publisher that makes editorial choices, and the choices reportedly being made are not acceptable to me,” Doyle told Adweek. For Doyle, who is trans, questions about the fine print behind Substack Pro miss the point. So long as the platform recruits and pays transphobic writers, Doyle will write elsewhere. “We built its name with our names ... and we made it valuable enough to receive that funding,” Doyle said. Media Newsletters Are Booming, and Substack’s Co-Founders Lit the Fuse

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Substack Pro Leads to Departures From Platform, Opportunities for Competitors

The program strains its claim to editorial impartiality

Mark Stenberg

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Mark Stenberg