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Ana Marie Cox on the Shaky Foundation of Substack as a Business

Let’s set Substack’s “Nazi problem” aside for a moment. What if the bigger issue is being stranded on a collapsing platform... with a bunch of Nazis?...

Last week, Terry Moran announced that he’d be the latest high-profile journalist to take his brand to Substack, following his dismissal from ABC due to having the correct opinion of Stephen Miller. Puck’s Dylan Byers took the occasion to pull in some reporting by Substacker Eric Newcomer (100k subscribers, claiming revenue of $2M a year, profit of over $1M) about the platform itself, currently in the process of seeking another round of financing. I've had conversations with editors at some of the largest news and politics Substack newsletters—all have expressed frustration with the platform and a desire to leave, but feel constrained by the lack of infrastructure or certainty offered by other options.

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