The Elite Capture of Substack

Elite capture is the “presence of unequal access to power...and consequently the ability to influence the transfer of funds/resources disproportionately” toward outcomes that benefit those with access.

Here, funds/resources mean currency, so in some situations they can refer to things like housing and healthcare but they can also refer to “knowledge... See more

In its early days, Substack primarily catered to a certain set of internet-savvy writers and journalists, lured by the promise of monetizing a direct relationship with their readers. But as it morphs from a niche publishing concern into a heavyweight start-up mentioned in the same breath as Twitter and Facebook, its user base is proliferating accor... See more

The recent history of the Internet, however, warns that we shouldn’t necessarily expect the endearingly homegrown nature of these 1,000 True Fans communities to persist. When viable new economic niches emerge online, venture-backed businesses, looking to extract their cut, are typically not far behind. Services such as Patreon and Kickstarter are j... See more