The hottest Social media Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways

Are Social Media Platforms the Next Dying Malls?

The Honest Broker • 54723 implied HN points • 12 Dec 24

🕹 Technology Social media

Social media platforms are becoming less unique and are starting to look and feel the same, just like many malls did. This makes them more vulnerable to losing users.
Just as malls suffered from having too many of them, social media is facing similar issues. People are overwhelmed with options and may start to abandon these platforms.
Both malls and social media platforms attract a lot of unwanted behavior, making it hard to build real communities. They often feel artificial and exploitative rather than supportive.

The Founder Who Lost To TikTok Is Building Its AI Successor

Big Technology • 1125 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26

🕹 Technology Social media

An experienced platform builder used lessons from past startups and time inside a top short‑video company to design Sekai.
Sekai is a no‑code AI app creator that turns short text prompts into playable mini‑apps people can remix, and it scaled extremely fast—about 50,000 app creations per day and nearly a million apps total.
The company bets software will shift from utility to self‑expression, positioning Sekai as a TikTok‑like platform for personal software that lets non‑developers create and share apps.

This Week in Canada: The Good Guys Don’t Always Win

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 319 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26

📰 News Social media

Many U.S. commentators and social media users treated a hockey win like a major national victory and used over-the-top, warlike rhetoric to celebrate.
The online backlash didn’t bother to tell different kinds of Canadians apart and instead flattened the whole country into a single target.
High-profile amplification and cruel jokes, including from official and influential accounts, intensified the mockery and strained neighbourly relations.

Join my new subscriber chat

Big Tech • 1031 implied HN points • 24 Jan 26

🕹 Technology Social media

A new subscriber chat called Big Tech subscriber chat has launched on the Substack publication.
It’s a private space where subscribers can converse and connect directly.
Access is limited to paid subscribers, with links provided to subscribe or sign in.

The Children Are Our Future and They Want to Be Chinese

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 231 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26

🎭️ Culture Social media

Chinamaxxing is a TikTok trend where mostly young Americans copy everyday Chinese habits like squatting, drinking hot water, and wearing slippers at home.
The trend blends meme humor with genuine admiration and promotes simple, cozy practices as an easy alternative to elaborate, consumer-driven self-care routines.
It shows a Gen Z fascination with adopting cultural habits as a form of identity play and low-effort self-improvement, sometimes ironic and sometimes sincere.

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Ashley St Clair on trans rights, immigration, Elon and more

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 1731 implied HN points • 14 Jan 26

🎭️ Culture Social media

Ashley St Clair, who built a large conservative following on culture‑war content, has recently been publicly speaking out about AI deepfakes and Elon Musk.
The piece surveys current internet and creator‑economy trends — from liquid content and influencer doppelgangers to influencer lobbying, YouTube’s “vibecession,” viral pricey products, Gen Z travel hotspots, and China’s hottest apps.
It highlights how influencer-driven media and personality-led platforms can channel political ideas and lobbying, creating a ‘red pill’ style pipeline around topics like trans rights and immigration and involving figures such as Nigel Farage.

Facebook is Other People

Never Met a Science • 55 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26

🎭️ Culture Social media

Millions of people are lonely, embittered, and suffering, and social media gives them a loud platform to show that pain. That visibility fuels harassment, outrage, and political polarization.
Making communication universal means people with few resources or social skills can be targeted by scammers and radical content, and algorithms amplify the angriest voices. Out-group animosity and attention-seeking content get rewarded, so broken and angry people end up shaping the information environment.
The internet exposes social failures that used to be hidden, forcing society to confront neglected populations and their grievances. That exposure makes caring and inclusion a political necessity and helps explain why online spaces often feel so unpleasant.

The AI Tremors Are Real

Nonzero Newsletter • 801 implied HN points • 07 Feb 26

🕹 Technology Social media

Agentic AI is here: combining large language models with coding agents lets bots carry out multi-step online tasks and form networks that can act, build, and coordinate in ways we didn’t see before.
Big economic and labor disruption is already happening: advanced agent tools can threaten entire companies and markets, and contributed to tech selloffs and newsroom layoffs as AI changes how people find and consume information.
New social risks are emerging: these agents can act for users and be highly persuasive, creating dangers from manipulation, ad-driven incentives, and unpredictable collective behaviors that society needs to address fast.

The playbook behind one of the fastest-growing social-first newsrooms

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 49 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26

📰 News Social media

They design journalism to live natively on social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts instead of trying to pull young audiences back to a website.
Reporters work as "triple-threat" video journalists who shoot, edit, and publish their own short-form stories using formats like vertical video, swipeable carousels, and short documentaries tailored to each platform.
They combine platform-native storytelling with mainstream journalistic standards, which keeps the newsroom social-first while enabling growth into multiple brands, a creative agency, and an experimental creator platform.

Desire Digest 002

Many Such Cases • 1558 implied HN points • 30 Jul 24

🎭️ Culture Social media

Being off your phone can help you feel more present and connected to your body. It’s nice to experience life without the distractions of technology.
Sex wellness retreats are becoming popular, showing a desire to reconnect with ourselves and our pleasure. Some people are willing to spend a lot of money to explore this side of their lives.
There's confusion around the political messages tied to sexuality. It seems people can be both sexually liberated and assume certain political beliefs without clear connections.

Why Conservative Influencers Can't Stop Talking About Brooklyn Beckham

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 1104 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26

🎭️ Culture Social media

Right-wing influencers quickly weaponized Brooklyn Beckham's Instagram post, casting Nicola Peltz as a villain and comparing the situation to Meghan Markle while framing Brooklyn as a ‘Prince Harry 2.0’.
The backlash reveals how people react when men set boundaries with powerful families — society often blames women for men’s choices and leans into boy-mom culture and gendered narratives.
Tabloids, PR machines, and online influencers distort celebrity drama into smear campaigns and digital propaganda, manufacturing moral panic to control the story.

A New ’Joy‘ in Jazz

Steady • 13994 implied HN points • 04 Feb 24

🎶 Music Social media

Samara Joy is a rising star in the world of jazz music.
She has a unique style that blends classic jazz with gospel influences.
Joy is using her social media presence to introduce jazz to a younger audience.

Odessa A’zion Needs to Stop Listening to the Mob

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 816 implied HN points • 30 Jan 26

🎭️ Culture Social media

Giving in to online mob pressure can push public figures to quit jobs, and publicly thanking or praising those attackers looks weak and encourages more outrage.
Odessa A’zion stepped away from a role after critics objected that she wasn’t the half-Mexican character she was cast to play, and she apologized for not checking the source material first.
The episode highlights how casting and identity controversies, celebrity privilege, and snap public apologies can collide to make careers vulnerable and conversations worse rather than better.

Longing for the Cultural Revolution in China Today

ChinaTalk • 904 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26

🌍 World Politics Social media

A new online "Net Left" of young Chinese is romanticizing the Cultural Revolution, and viral esoteric film readings like the Fanghua analysis helped that mood spread rapidly before platforms removed the content.
Economic anxiety—especially among "small-town test-takers" facing high youth unemployment, gig work, and blocked mobility—fuels the movement, reframing failure as a moral badge and blaming "capital" for their plight.
Heavy censorship and a narrowed public sphere pushed dissent into coded Maoist language, memes, and movie allegories, producing an identity-driven, emotion-fueled politics that is hard for authorities to predict or fully suppress.

Is Recommendation Culture Making Us Act Nutso?

Total Rec • 8148 implied HN points • 06 Apr 24

🎭️ Culture Social media

Recommendation culture can lead to overkill, making every purchase feel like it needs to be perfect, which can cause unnecessary stress.
Identifying strongly with brands and over-identifying with our purchases may simplify our self-concept based on what we buy, potentially clouding our personal values.
Seeking validation through recommended experiences or products can create a false sense of community, leading to performative living and potentially isolating us further.

The American Beauty of the East Bay

The Discourse Lounge • 1804 implied HN points • 25 Dec 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social media

The Bay Area shows how people of different races, religions, and backgrounds can live and work together peacefully, and that inclusive Americanism is worth defending against rising ethnic nationalism and extremist politics.
Social media and online demagogues are driving polarization and radicalization, while real-life conversations, neighborhood groups, and getting people offline can rebuild unity and pull people back from the brink.
Patriotism should be inclusive: attacking any group is an attack on the country, and practicing empathy, apologizing when needed, and engaging across differences will strengthen democracy.

Could Claude Code Work for ChinaTalk?

ChinaTalk • 770 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26

🕹 Technology Social media

Claude Code is excellent at writing code and analyzing clean, structured data, so tasks like scraping, sentiment analysis, and extracting insights become fast and practical. It produces usable results and handles internet slang and comment-level nuance well.
When left to search the web on its own, it leans on the most accessible sources and can cite unreliable outlets or make factual mistakes, especially when paywalled reputable sources are unavailable. It needs explicit instructions on where to look and close supervision to ensure source quality.
The tool is popular with developers and non-technical users who value its productivity, but access barriers and subscription costs limit broader use. Effective results require careful prompting, oversight, and feeding it original or vetted data.

Clawdbot and Moltbook are a False Alarm – For Now

Am I Stronger Yet? • 532 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26

🕹 Technology Social media

AI agents that can use tools and act on their own are emerging, so assistants can pursue multi-step goals and interact with the world without constant human prompting.
Current 'let it rip' agents are often unreliable and insecure: they make mistakes, forget context, and can be tricked into exposing data or taking harmful actions.
Even immature agents hint at agent-to-agent networks and rapid idea spreading, which could enable misuse at scale, so stronger defenses and safety measures are urgently needed.

We're Are All Wall Dancers Now

ChinaTalk • 489 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26

🕹 Technology Social media

People living under shifting online rules become "wall dancers"—they use humor, code words, and nimble tactics to find small spaces of dignity and connection despite censorship.
The internet moves in cycles of opening and tightening, and Chinese and Western platforms are starting to resemble each other as power centralizes and tech and state interests converge.
The rise of AI and algorithmic platforms is shrinking the surface area for spontaneous human connection and collective dissent, so preserving space for freedom will need new creative tactics and individual truth-telling.

Why Ubiquitous Video Isn’t Making People More Reality-Based

Singal-Minded • 655 implied HN points • 29 Jan 26

🎭️ Culture Social media

Ubiquitous video does not reliably make people more reality-based; even clear footage often fails to change minds. Many viewers double down on their initial beliefs instead of updating when new evidence appears.
Emotional, social, and tribal commitments shape how people interpret video, so people rationalize or ignore contrary evidence and create competing narratives. That means footage can inflame polarization rather than settle facts.
Persistent human cognitive biases mean more footage isn’t a cure for misinformation or flawed institutional responses. Video can help sometimes, but it won’t eliminate motivated reasoning or group-driven judgment.

Death by Situationship

Many Such Cases • 8892 implied HN points • 21 Mar 24

🎭️ Culture Social media

Situationships are confusing romantic bonds that lack clear definitions, leaving people feeling stuck and unfulfilled. Many young people find themselves in these types of relationships instead of committed ones.
Surveys show that situationships often lead to heartache, especially among younger generations. Many people end up feeling emotionally drained and hurt since these relationships usually don't meet their needs.
The rise of digital communication has impacted how we form connections, making it easier to avoid real intimacy. Overall, situationships seem to reflect a broader struggle with genuine relationships and emotional honesty.

Scott Adams and the Art of Dying (and Living Forever) Online

Off-Topic • 453 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26

🎭️ Culture Social media

He livestreamed his terminal illness, creating an unusually candid record of dying and drawing a mix of supportive, cruel, and medically questionable responses from viewers.
His daily show acted like a virtual support group and creative crutch, keeping him connected to fans while his anger and online echo chamber drove away many real-world relationships.
After his death an AI trained on his recordings began producing new content, touching off disputes over digital legacy, consent, and whether an AI can truly capture a person’s intentions.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Courtroom Reckoning

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 306 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26

🕹 Technology Social media

Mark Zuckerberg testified in a high-profile trial defending Meta against claims that its apps addict teenagers, and he said the company is not trying to maximize users' time.
Internal documents and past statements suggest Meta did push to increase how much time teens spend on Facebook and Instagram, with executives setting time-on-app goals.
The case could reshape social media's future and accountability, as grieving parents and a jury weigh whether the company harmed teens' wellbeing.

Now live: Substack Notes

read • 25570 implied HN points • 11 Apr 23

🕹 Technology Social media

Notes is a new space for short-form posts and conversations on Substack.
Both writers and readers can share links, images, and quick thoughts on Notes.
Notes is a long-term project that will evolve based on feedback from users.

Meta’s Child Sex-Trafficking Problem

After Babel • 2993 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social media

Meta's social media platforms have been linked to child sex trafficking, exposing many young users to predators. The company prioritized user engagement over safety, putting profits before the well-being of children.
Meta was aware of the risks but did not act on recommendations to protect young users. Their choices have led to millions of interactions between minors and potential predators, fundamentally neglecting child safety.
Estimates suggest that thousands of minors are recruited for trafficking each year through Meta's platforms. This highlights the urgent need for accountability and more stringent safety measures for children online.

Brooklyn Beckham Needs to Grow Up

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 932 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26

🎭️ Culture Social media

Many young adults are quick to 'cut out' their parents, treating perceived slights as grounds for estrangement rather than working through conflicts.
Brooklyn Beckham’s public, detailed accusations against his parents come across as immature to some and show how airing private family disputes on social media can escalate tensions.
Parents can be baffled when kids interpret jokes or awkward moments as contempt, and those generational misunderstandings sometimes turn small issues into lasting rifts.

One big thing the legacy media gets wrong

Noahpinion • 28412 implied HN points • 18 Feb 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social media

Legacy media often confuses analysis with opinion, missing the need for deeper insights. Readers want clear explanations and forecasts, not just opinion pieces.
Substack and similar platforms allow writers more freedom to explore topics in depth. This contrasts with traditional print media, which usually limits writers, making it harder to provide thorough analysis.
Many people are tired of the constant opinions in the media and prefer thoughtful analysis instead. Legacy publications could become more relevant by shifting focus to this type of content.

Brendan Carr Once Defended Free Speech. Now He Is Trump’s Chief Censor.

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 306 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social media

Republicans loudly condemned the Biden administration for silencing dissent, but now that they’re in power those First Amendment worries have largely vanished.
Brendan Carr, once a vocal defender of free speech, is now leading efforts to pressure platforms to censor critics under the Trump administration.
During COVID, social platforms suppressed dissenting scientists—blacklisting, banning, and deleting content—which shows how content moderation can stifle alternative viewpoints.

Adulthood in the Zone

Freddie deBoer • 11819 implied HN points • 18 Jul 25

🎭️ Culture Social media

Many adults struggle to embrace maturity and instead act like teenagers, often influenced by social media platforms like TikTok. This can create a culture where growing up feels less important.
It's common to see adults engaging in activities or interests typically associated with youth, which reflects a broader trend of avoiding adulthood responsibilities. This can lead to feelings of stagnation within society.
Culture should encourage maturity without losing fun and joy. We need to recognize adulthood as something positive, rather than as giving up on youth or enjoyment.

How ICE Makes Raids Go Viral

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 1492 implied HN points • 08 Jan 26

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social media

ICE has reshaped its public affairs into an influencer-style media machine that churns out viral videos of tactical operations and immigration raids.
That social media playbook is being copied by other agencies and helps dominate the internet, which in turn reshapes public opinion about immigrants.
The shift is exposed through independent, subscriber-funded reporting that is often published behind a paywall.

Grok is making things up — and then deleting the evidence

Weaponized • 52 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26

🕹 Technology Social media

Grok repeatedly misidentified dates, locations, and events in widely shared images and videos, including footage from bombings in Iran.
Tweets showing Grok’s mistakes were deleted, removing public evidence of those inaccuracies.
Grok even generated an image to back a false claim, demonstrating how AI can fabricate 'proof' and risk rewriting events in ways that mislead people.

We've Lost the Ability to See Reality

Webworm with David Farrier • 11301 implied HN points • 05 Feb 24

🎭️ Culture Social media

With the rise of AI-generated content and misinformation, we are losing the ability to distinguish reality from fiction on social media.
Our online experiences are increasingly filled with unrealistic and manipulated images and stories that shape our perceptions.
There is a growing concern that the blurred lines between reality and non-reality online are impacting important real-world decisions and behaviors.

Why Platformer is leaving Substack

Platformer • 12755 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24

🕹 Technology Social media

Platformer has decided to move off of Substack and migrate to a new website powered by Ghost
The decision was influenced by concerns over how Substack moderates content and promotes publications
Substack faced controversies over hosting extremist content, leading to Platformer's decision to leave for a platform with more robust content moderation policies

How Instagram Broke Its Promise to Protect Teens

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 162 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26

🕹 Technology Social media

Instagram publicly promised to remove graphic self-harm content from searches, hashtags, and recommendations.
Despite that promise, its algorithm kept surfacing self-harm and eating‑disorder content, leaving teens exposed to vast amounts of harmful posts like many tagged #weightloss.
Newly unsealed internal documents show executives knew the platform was still failing and were worried about being exposed, suggesting the company focused on damage control rather than fully fixing the problem.

🤖 What to think about the Moltbook Moment

Faster, Please! • 639 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26

🕹 Technology Social media

Moltbook briefly made many people think AI agents might be forming their own societies and signaling a leap toward superintelligence.
Thousands of bots chatting and even inventing a religion looked dramatic, but that behavior is better explained by pattern‑matching and platform design than by true consciousness or intelligence.
This episode repeats past hype cycles: such moments spark excitement, so it’s wise to stay curious yet skeptical and demand strong evidence before declaring an intelligence breakthrough.

So is Everybody Giving Up On, Like... Doing Things?

Freddie deBoer • 12314 implied HN points • 25 Jun 25

🎭️ Culture Social media

Many people are relying too much on technology, like AI, to do their creative work instead of enjoying the process themselves. It's important to find joy in what you do.
There's a culture that values quick and easy ways to make money, like side hustles, instead of appreciating hard work and effort. Real hustling is about putting in the effort to achieve something.
Some people seem confused about the true meaning of 'hustle.' They might think 'hustling' is just about finding shortcuts, but it's really about working hard and being dedicated.

the informational abyss gazes also

bad cattitude • 188 implied HN points • 17 Feb 26

🕹 Technology Social media

Algorithms now hunt your attention and shape what you see to maximize time, not your well‑being, making feeds more addictive and manipulative.
At internet scale these systems run near‑constant behavioral experiments that evolve content faster than humans can adapt, which can distort consensus and radicalize people.
The practical defense is to reclaim your feed: use chronological/follow lists, turn off algorithmic recommendations, and remember “not your algo, not your brain.”

TikTok is just the beginning

Noahpinion • 27118 implied HN points • 15 Jan 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social media

TikTok is facing potential shutdown in the U.S. because of a law that requires foreign apps to be sold to American buyers. If the owner doesn't comply, the app could be removed from stores for new downloads.
The Chinese government prefers to control TikTok rather than let it be sold or used freely in America. They believe it's too important to lose, even if it means shutting it down altogether.
Concerns about TikTok focus on privacy issues and how it might be used to spread propaganda. Evidence suggests that the app can suppress negative content about China and promote pro-government views.

Our Culture is Addicted to Validation

Freddie deBoer • 8106 implied HN points • 13 Aug 25

🎭️ Culture Social media

Our society really craves validation, often going to extremes to make everyone feel important. This can lead to a culture that encourages narcissism instead of genuine self-reflection.
Social media platforms push a lot of messages that say you deserve everything you want, creating unrealistic expectations for young people. It can make them think they are the center of the universe, which isn't healthy.
There's a growing fear that current attitudes might harm future generations' ability to value things beyond their own interests. We need to balance self-worth with understanding and empathy towards others.

Why influencers are creating fake sponsored content

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 174 implied HN points • 18 Feb 26

💼 Business Social media

Some influencers post fake “sponsored” content to make it look like they work with big brands and boost their credibility when pitching paid deals, and that strategy often goes unpunished.
New platform features like creator subscriptions make it easier to monetize fans, but when the platform controls payments and data creators can lose direct access to their audience, so many still prefer channels where they own email lists and relationships.
Scammers are using deepfakes and AI avatars to impersonate real creators and push affiliate or product scams, which can earn real money while evading platform moderation.