News of the Cyber World

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Substack Launches Twitter Competitor ‘Notes’ After Public Spat with Elon musk

Popular newsletter site Substack has launched a new “Notes” feature where users can post shorter text posts and images. The new feature could serve as a potential competitor for Twitter, drawing the ire of Elon Musk.

...The announcement was made following Twitter’s designation of Substack links as “unsafe.”

Forbes reports that Elon Musk, has spoken out about the dispute between the social media behemoth and the online publishing platform Substack, particularly in relation to Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi. Twitter was accused of severely restricting the sharing of Substack content, by Taibbi, who announced his plans to leave Twitter on Friday. In his reply, Musk attacked Taibbi as a liar and insisted that Substack links had never been blocked.

...Twitter has made it very difficult for users to access Substack content by putting up barriers like warnings that Substack links might be dangerous or contain malicious content. Twitter also prevents users from liking or retweeting tweets containing Substack links....

“Notes could prove to be a worthy Twitter alternative for some, especially for Substack writers who have already built audiences on the platform and are looking for a new place to post,” said Helen Tobin, a Substack representative. Notes won’t have a character limit, and the feature will be distinct from complete newsletters and chat threads. According to Tobin, users can share “posts, quotes, comments, images, and links” in Notes.

Up to six photos or GIFs can be posted at a time in notes, but videos are not supported. Shared Notes won’t be sent to subscriber inboxes, but the feature will offer interaction options like likes, replies, and “restacks” (similar to retweets). They will instead be available through the Substack website and app.

Users will have access to “Home” and “Subscribed,” two feeds. Users may be introduced to new content producers by the “Home” feed, which will feature Notes from writers they subscribe to and those they recommend. In contrast, the “Subscribed” feed will only show Notes from writers who have subscribed.

Brazil Responds to Wave of School Attacks by Censoring Social Media

Brazilian Justice Minister Flavio Dino on Wednesday announced new restrictions on social media to combat an “epidemic” of assaults on children.

Dino said website administrators will be required to ban users who “are promoting or supporting attacks or violence against schools.”

Dino said social media platforms will be required to send data on users who share violent content to the police, in addition to blocking the users. Failure to comply could be punished with fines of up to $2.4 million and noncompliant websites could be shut down by federal authorities.

“There is an emergency situation which has generated an epidemic of attacks, threats of attacks (and) panic among families and in schools,” Dino declared.

The Brazilian crackdown includes international social media platforms. On Monday, the Brazilian Justice Ministry held a meeting with representatives from Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Google, and other companies to demand the removal of “content supporting school attacks,” a category which evidently included news reports about such incidents because they could allegedly inspire copycat attacks.

Twitter immediately refused the request, noting the 270 user accounts Brazil wanted it to ban did not post any content that violated Twitter’s terms of service, since they were sharing information about crimes but not encouraging violence.

Dino responded angrily that Twitter’s “terms of use of the platform” should not be considered more important than the lives of children. Brazilian social media users on Tuesday launched a “Twitter Supports Massacres” campaign that attracted some celebrity support.

The campaign, which features images of the Twitter bird slathered in blood while its eyes ring up dollar signs, disappeared as a trending topic on Twitter itself despite attracting over 4 million views, leading to accusations that Twitter is suppressing it.