The Great Migration
How Substack became the new town square
as X descended into a propaganda machine
In October 2022, Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. What followed was one of the most dramatic corporate implosions in media history — a systematic dismantling of content moderation, a mass exodus of advertisers, journalists, and public figures, and a precipitous collapse in both revenue and trust. Into the void stepped Substack: an independent platform where writers own their audiences, readers pay directly for quality, and the algorithm serves subscribers, not engagement-bait. This is a data-driven account of that divergence.
User Growth:
One Up, One Down
As X shed users and cultural credibility, Substack compounded growth quarter after quarter — building a paid audience that rivals major print outlets.
US Adult Usage Rate
Stagnant then collapsing post-acquisition
The Alternatives Rising: Threads & Bluesky MAU
Millions of Monthly Active Users as users seek alternatives to X
Revenue & Valuation:
The Great Divergence
X revenue has collapsed 51% from its 2021 peak. Substack has grown its ARR nearly 20x in five years. The market is rendering its verdict.
Content Quality & Trust:
By the Numbers
Academic research and advertiser behavior tell a damning story: X has become a platform where hate speech is up, high-quality information is down, and the people tasked with policing both have been fired.
The Advertiser Exodus:
Follow the Money
Nearly 300 brands have slashed advertising on X. The top 10 advertisers cut spending by 70–99%. The result: $5.9 billion in estimated lost revenue versus X's pre-acquisition trajectory.
Brand Spending Collapse: 2022 vs 2025
Top advertiser spending on X — dramatic year-over-year collapse
Rolling 12-Month Ad Revenue (MediaRadar)
Consecutive annual declines in advertising revenue
Major Brands That Pulled Spending
App & Traffic Trends:
The Momentum Shift
Threads has overtaken X in daily mobile users. Substack's app has become its #1 growth engine. The data shows where digital attention is moving.
X vs Threads: Mobile Daily Active Users
The crossover moment — Threads surpasses X in daily mobile users by Jan 2026
Substack App: Engagement Flywheel
X: The Traffic Erosion
The Exodus:
Who Left & Where They Went
The migration is not just demographic — it is institutional. News organizations, journalists, politicians, and cultural figures have all abandoned X, many moving their audiences to Substack.
Media Organizations
Leaving X
Journalists
Moving to Substack
Politicians & Celebrities
Building Audiences
In Their Own Words
The exodus is being narrated in real time. These are some of the voices defining the moment.
X is a toxic media platform.
Going off this platform now. It has become a toxic cesspool.
The people who made Twitter fun have all given up. There's nothing worth sticking around for anymore.
You can't make a good deal with a bad person.
Places like Substack that allow you to have a direct one-on-one relationship with the audience have never been more valuable.
Head to Head:
The Full Ledger
A structured comparison across every meaningful dimension — business model, creator economics, content quality, and trajectory.
| Metric | SUBSTACK | X (TWITTER) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Revenue | Subscriptions | Advertising |
| Creator Revenue Share | 87% | Variable / Limited |
| Content Ownership | Creator owns list | Platform controls distribution |
| Algorithm Goal | Maximize subscriptions | Maximize time-on-platform |
| Paid Subscribers | 5M+ (2025) | N/A (ad model) |
| 2025 Revenue | $45M ARR ↗ | ~$2.5B ↙ (declining) |
| Valuation Trend | Rising — $1.1B unicorn | Falling — 91% brand value loss |
| Hate Speech | No systemic increase | +50% post-acquisition |
| Trust & Safety | Community standards maintained | 80% of safety engineers cut |
| Brand Safety (Ads) | Subscription model — no ad risk | Only 4% of marketers approve |
| Notable Recent Additions | Buttigieg, Acosta, Krugman, Hasan | — |
| Notable Recent Departures | — | Guardian, NPR, Stephen King, Elton John |