Substack just went down (briefly). And reminded me how important it has become to independent journalism

If you care about Unreported Truths, this is a GOOD time to subscribe...

I was writing a piece about whether the US should try to force TikTok out of Chinese hands about two hours ago (a question that’s surprisingly tricky) - and suddenly Substack went down. 502 Bad Gateway. 504 Gateway Timeout.

It wasn’t just Unreported Truths, the outage was sitewide.

I thought: is this just a technical problem, or did enough of us annoy some unfriendly actor that the entire platform has come under attack?

Then I thought: what if it doesn’t come back? What happens to Unreported Truths? And Eugyppius? And The Free Press? And Public? And all the other voices on here?

Obviously, I was indulging in a bit of panic. Even if Substack was under attack, its engineers would manage the problem and bring it back up - as they have. But, really, what I was glimpsing was how crucial Substack has become in the last few years, how it is now the most important site for long-form journalism anywhere.

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(This is your chance…)

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And that includes Twitter/X, both because X is not great for long-form journalism and because Elon Musk’s stewardship of X has been something of a… disappointment. Sorry if the truth hurts, E. What are you going to do, throttle my X account even more than you have already? I guess you can if you want. So bizarre, I’m on your side. But you never really figured out what free speech truly meant or what it would mean for X to be truly free, and your ego wouldn’t allow you to be a hands-off owner. Oh well.

But Substack really does understand and defend free speech. It lets a thousand flowers bloom. And bloom they have. The Substack community produces some of the most vibrant reporting and commentary anywhere.

I think that includes Unreported Truths. And if you agree, I hope you will subscribe. One lucky winner will get a signed copy of PANDEMIA or The Faithful Spy (email your address to signedpandemiacopy@gmail.com).

But don’t do it for the free book. Do it because you want this Substack - and independent journalism - to survive.

Now, back to that TikTok piece (which I’d planned to paywall for a week. We will see, if enough of you sign up, I won’t have to).

Thanks, and enjoy your weekend -

Alex