The tools of power

In an early draft of my piece about our relationship with technology, I had a paragraph about Substack, saying in essence that it was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I.e., it seems to facilitate the kind of personal connection that I want us to prioritize, but in reality, Substack is still acting as an intermediary. Gruber wrote about this from a branding perspective:

Paul Krugman does not “write for Substack”. No one would say that Jason Snell “writes for WordPress”, or that Jason Kottke or yours truly “writes for Movable Type”. No one says Molly White, Casey Newton, or Craig Calcaterra “writes for Ghost”, or that Oliver Darcy “writes for Beehiiv”. Only with Substack does anyone perceive creator branding as being subservient to the platform... That is not by happenstance. It’s a trap and it is by design.

Philip Bump just posted a great piece about how we spend our power, so to speak, and he, too, brings up an insidious aspect of Substack:

Since I left The Washington Post, this question has guided my discussions with people interested in my writing for them. I’ve had numerous offers to write that I have (hopefully respectfully) declined. I’ve done so largely because I am trying to be conscientious about the prior question, to work with and for institutions that are directing their accrued power responsibly.
...
Even if they worked perfectly, Substack and Twitter/X only accrue power over the long term for Substack and X. If one of Substack’s most popular authors were to be abducted by aliens tomorrow, Substack retains the value she created on the company’s behalf. It benefits institutionally from her using the platform. She helped build its institutional power — which it currently uses, in small part, to ensure Nazis a voice in the discussion.

Substack is a great example of technology that is trying to be the focus — and thus you’ll be unsurprised to learn that I have great disdain for Substack right now — but the reason I celebrate Bump’s piece (and perhaps why it is a good companion to mine) is that beyond its takedown of a particular platform, it’s challenging us to think about the tools we choose to use. And then, to take action.