Facebook Launches Substack Newsletter Rival, Won’t Take Cut of Pay

Bulletin, the social media giant's stand-alone newsletter platform, launched on Tuesday with writers like Malcolm Gladwell, Tan France, Jessica Yellin, Jane Wells, Erin Andrews and Dorie Greenspan.

Mark Zuckerberg Johannes Simon/Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook’s newsletter platform, Bulletin, is the “first time” the company has “built a project that is directly for journalists and individual writers.”

“More and more independent writers are discovering ways to use their voice and make money through other avenues, similar to the ones we’re introducing here,” Zuckerberg said in a Live Audio Room on Facebook as he announced the platform’s launch. “We’re trying to elevate those.”

The newsletter platform, which is competing with Substack, launched on Tuesday with a stable of writers that includes Malcolm Gladwell, Tan France, Jessica Yellin, Jane Wells, Erin Andrews and Dorie Greenspan. Bulletin writers will own all their content and email subscriber lists, and Facebook will not be taking a cut from any of their subscription revenue, which are processed via Facebook Pay.

Users don’t need to be logged into Facebook to read free newsletters, which can be found on individual writers’ publication pages, but content will also appear on readers’ News Feeds if they are using Facebook.

Zuckerberg touted the “multimedia” aspect of Bulletin, noting that writers’ newsletters are eligible for distribution on Facebook News and that creators will have access to Facebook’s audio offerings, including podcasts and Live Audio, to complement their writing.

“We think this concept of portability is extremely important for the creator economy,” Zuckerberg said, noting that writers would be able to easily move their newsletter and following over to another platform. “[There] has to be a way for writers to make a living that’s sustainable in the long term.”