Substack is spending $20 million to court TikTokers
Platforms like Meta and YouTube aren’t the only ones hoping to profit from TikTok’s possible demise; Substack is also interested.
With the announcement of its $20 million “creator accelerator fund” on Thursday, the firm assured content creators that switching to Substack would not result in a loss of revenue. Participants in the program also receive early access to new features and “strategic and business support” from Substack.
In a blog post, the firm stated, “We created this fund because we’ve witnessed creators with expertise in text, audio, and video grow their following, income, and influence on Substack, where the network effects of the platform enhance the caliber and impact of their work.”
Substack has been preparing for this change for some time; for months, the company has been positioning itself as a creator platform akin to Patreon rather than a newsletter distribution service.
According to the blog post, “[creators] can build their own home on Substack: one where creators, not platform executives or advertisers, own their work and their audience.” The article also explains that creators cannot rely on traditional social media platforms because of “bans, backlash, and policies that change with the political winds.”
We at The Verge have been insisting for a while that everything is okay. However, Substack-focused creators are also prone to fluctuations based on the company’s priorities:
Some people believe that Substack’s original stated goal of granting independent writers greater freedom is eroding. Additionally, since you can’t export your TikTok followers, creators who want to switch to Substack will have to start again with their following.
Additionally, Substack’s operations are susceptible to “political winds.”
Nazi publications that were being sold on the platform landed the corporation in deep water just a year ago. Only after persistent public pressure from well-known authors did Substack finally ban some of the newsletters. An editor who had contributed to a newsletter that was critical of Substack was abruptly sacked by the firm in 2025, when Substack had promised to be a better newsroom.
In order to attract creators, Substack has previously given a fund of $20 million. With more compensation, health benefits, and other benefits, the company recruited top media personnel from traditional newsrooms through a program dubbed Substack Pro. Substack cofounder Hamish McKenzie stated that the agreements were “seed funding deals to remove the financial risk for a writer in starting their own business” rather than employment contracts when the initiative came to an end in 2025. Alternatively put, welcome to Substack. You’re on your own now that you’re here, which is essentially the promise made by other platforms.
