, Columnist
Elon Musk May Have Just Anointed a Twitter Successor
In banning Substack, the billionaire owner of the bird app has given it credibility and visibility.
A Twitter contender?
Photographer: Gabby Jones/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A year ago this week, Elon Musk launched his takeover of Twitter Inc. Since then, predictions of the platform’s demise haven’t panned out because, among other things, no clear alternative has emerged. His antics over the past few days indicate what he’s afraid of, though, and that starts to firm up the most likely successors.
In the early days of Musk-run Twitter, decentralized platform Mastodon, upstart Post, and Indian lookalike Koo all appeared to have a shot at taking down the bird app. Despite enjoying significant growth, none has emerged a clear winner.