Elon Musk says open to buying publishing platform Substack to take on corporate media

After purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk on Wednesday said he is open to the idea to acquire Substack that lets independent writers and podcasters publish directly to their audience and get paid through subscriptions.

Musk said this while reacting to a user who asked him ‘if it would make sense for Twitter to buy Substack and more tightly connect the two platforms’. Musk said that he was open to the idea.

"Twitter plus Substack creates instantly massive competition for obsolete legacy corporate media," the user posted.

This reaction came after the mainstream and corporate media gave a lukewarm response to "Twitter Files" that he had revealed via independent journalists.

"Why is corporate journalism rushing to defend the state instead of the people?" Musk asked, reacting to Leighton Woodhouse, a freelance reporter and documentary filmmaker, who said "establishment journalists' response to the Twitter Files is that of a profession committed to protecting the state instead of exposing it" on Substack.

Substack is an US online platform that provides analytics, publishing, payment, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. Writers can also use Substack to directly send digital newsletters to subscribers. The company was founded in 2017 by the co-founder of Kik Messenger, Chris Best, developer, Jairaj Sethi and former tech reporter Hamish McKenzie.