Matt Taibbi, a former Rolling Stone journalist who was given access to Twitter files by Elon Musk, was allegedly “banned from his official Twitter account” by the mogul after he refused to permanently withdraw from his lucrative Substack subscription site.
Taibbi’s Twitter account has been “deboosted to the max” – meaning Twitter has placed visibility filters in order that users who looked for the journalist’s account wouldn’t have the option to search out it, in response to Mashable reporter Matt Binder.
On April 8, Binder posted a screenshot of a search he conducted for the Taibbi account, which yielded no results.
One other search by The Post on Tuesday found Taibbi’s Twitter account.
The post solicited Twitter and Taibbi for comment.
Taibbi announced over the weekend that he was leaving Twitter after Musk’s social media company blocked links to Substack in retaliation for launching Notes, a competitor to the microblogging site.
Taibbi earns about $500,000 a yr from subscribers who pay a monthly fee to access his newsletter posts.
![Matt Taibbi's Twitter account was](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009355287-1.jpg?w=1024)
The breakup between Musk and Taibbi is surprising considering the latter is the creator of the “Twitter Files” – pre-Musk era internal company documents that show the extent to which the tech giant colluded with government agencies to suppress content deemed favorable to Donald Trump.
Taibbi even testified before Congress last month and denounced the “digital McCarthyism” practiced by Twitter under the old regime.
But last Thursday, Twitter prevented Substack authors, who often use the app to advertise their newsletters, from posting links to their work.
![Matt Binder, a reporter for tech site Mashable, noted that Taibbi's Twitter account was](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009471464.jpg?w=667)
![Musk claimed that Taibbi was an employee of Substack. Taibbi denies this.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009471467.jpg?w=1024)
The subsequent day, Twitter blocked the display of Substack newsletters on its platform.
Twitter users were unable to retweet, reply to, or like several tweet that contained a link to Substack.
Musk stated in a tweet that Taibbi was an worker of Substack. He also denied that Substack links were being blocked on Twitter.
![Taibbi left Twitter over the weekend after rejecting Musk's demand to leave Substack, a paid-for newsletter platform.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009471564.jpg?w=1024)
“I’ve never been a Substack worker” Taibbi wrote in a blog post on Sunday.
“I actually have my very own company, but subscribers employ me.”
Taibbi added, “I’m loyal to Substack, an organization that has all the time treated me well and whose original Substack Pro offering has enabled an individual with children like me to maneuver away from mainstream journalism.”
![Musk took steps to curb Substack on Twitter after Substack launched a new platform to compete with the microblogging site.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000005667247.jpg?w=1024)
Substack Pro was a program where the corporate paid the author a lump sum up front to cover the primary yr on the platform.
In return, Substack keeps 85% of the subscription revenue for the primary yr – after which the creator takes home 90% of the subscription revenue.
The post asked for comment from Substack.