A Privacy Policy Worse Than Google? Surprise! It's Substack

Photo by Agence Olloweb on Unsplash

So, you guys know I have my blog cross-posted on various platforms. Well, I also considered posting on Substack. Then, as I do, I read the Substack Privacy Policy. After which I rejected Substack with a quickness.  

The Substack Privacy Policy is essentially "there is no Privacy here." 

It's even worse than the Google Privacy Policy update they published on May 26 of this year--the update that sent me running back to Diaryland to write Diary of a Low Budget Superhero; the update that had me seek alternative platforms to Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar. It's bad enough that Google has forsaken development on Blogger for years, but that astonishing new "we're spying on everything" Privacy Policy clinched it: Bye, Google. (I downloaded the Blogger files in May and I'm duping the blog entries on Diaryland, but for the moment I'm still on Blogger.)

Google's updated Privacy Policy May 26, 2026

 

But I digress. I was talking about Substack's Privacy Policy and how it's even worse than what Google pulled in May. The short version is, if you're writing on Substack, you're being bent over a chair and sodomized for your information. The long version? That's at the end of this essay, in the form of an excerpt from Substack's Privacy Policy. You should know that if you write on Substack they collect your email address, phone number, banking details, credit card details, date of birth, address, photograph, IP address, user name AND password, your social media accounts, your direct message contents as well as metadata, and more. 

Excuse me, but that's way more than a blog/newsletter platform needs. That's not a User Profile. That's a dossier. 

Even if Substack itself is above board, what if they affiliate with bad actors? This company doesn't disclose all of their foreign investors, did you know that? And even if those foreign investors are above board, what if  Substack is hacked and all that info is stolen? More secure entities than a blog/newsletter site have been hacked. The transport authority in the UK. The Council of Medical Research in India. The CIA. 

The thing about these platforms collecting all your information, simply put, is that it's dangerous. 

We don't know where all this private info is going or what it's used for today, or what it will be used for in the future. Right now we know that bots follow you around the web displaying the thing you just looked at, whether you Googled for it or visited a store's website or mentioned it in a Facebook post. We know they track where you're going online, what you're shopping for, when you're stalling on the thing in your shopping cart. They hate that. They start emailing you, man. Texting you. Relentlessly. We certainly know that they tailor political ads to the profile they worked up for us.

It's one thing to track our movements in the Search Engine...even where we're going online, what we're clicking on...you're Google, we expect that. It's quite another thing to monitor our images, files, audio and video. 

Google is invading our privacy "to do things like recommend a YouTube video you might like" according to the Privacy Policy.  

First of all, I have lots of friends and family who can recommend YouTube videos I might like. I do not need you to recommend anything for me, Google, at the expense of my privacy. GTFO of my files, my God. This is what people mean when they lament that the internet has changed for the worse compared to the old days. In the beginning, you were free to just...browse the web. Jump ahead a few decades, and here come all the tools that want to give us a better web experience. (Spoiler: it's worse.)

But that's the kind of thing they tell you, positioning what's basically stealing your files to be for your benefit. They tell you that your info will serve to tailor your content, messages, and ads to your individual preferences, behaviors, and characteristics. 

But all it takes is one little update to the Privacy Policy for these platforms to start using your info for other things. Things you didn't sign up for, like what Google did on May 26, which was when Google started accessing our "images, files, audio and video" from our transactions. I beg your finest pardon, but no one asked for that. 

And what's next for the Privacy Policy, whether they actually publish it or just go right ahead and do it? They need to monitor your documents, images and videos to train AI? They need the household budget spreadsheet you made in order to set surveillance prices on the goods you buy? They need the glucose readings you track and the grocery list you made in order to set your healthcare benefits?

Oh no, not that guy again

X is affiliated with Google, in a partnership allows X to monetize its content through Google Ads Manager. Don't you think that means that Elon "DOGE Data" Musk has access to your info? Plus Google has numerous foreign investors, and of course all the major financial institutions like Black Rock, Vanguard, and JP Morgan Chase. 

The Bottom Line

Today Google is claiming they need your images, files, audio and video "to do things like recommend a YouTube video you might like." Substack is in part claiming they need your info to "...provide more relevant, safer experiences for you on the platform and to improve the platform and analytics." 

I'm off Google (except for the blog, for now), and I won't get on Substack in this lifetime. And I recommend reading the Privacy Policy of any platform you're considering joining. In addition, protect your privacy online in general. There are security and privacy tools you can use, like VPNs, anti-virus apps, secure password managers and more.

I started this essay by saying I checked out Substack to see if I wanted to write there. If you're looking for a good place to write online, without all the corporate blogs where posts are actually sales pitches, and business bloggers who are more interested in SEO, analytics, and paid subscriptions, then I recommend Diaryland (diaryland.com). For more info read my essay on Medium, A Writer's Guide To Diaryland.

"On Diaryland, you can explore ideas, write personal prose, poems, or lyrics, write to clear your head, keep a record of your life, and more. Only share what you want to share, as you can make the whole diary private, or make individual entries private. Diaryland doesn’t require your real name if you’d prefer to write anonymously, nor does it sell your information. It doesn’t have ads. There’s no AI. The servers powering Diaryland are private. It’s completely independent."

Be safe out there, guys.👇 

Substack Privacy Policy excerpted below: 

What Information does Substack collect?

We collect and process Personal Information about you when you interact with us and our services, as well as when you subscribe to any of our paid or unpaid services. This may include:

- your first and last name;

- your email address;

- your phone number;

- your date of birth;

- your payment details (including billing address, credit card details, where you make a purchase from us);

- your location and/or mailing address;

- your photograph;

- your marketing preferences, including any consents you have given us;

- information related to the browser or device you use to access our website (including your IP address);

- any information we collect online from you and maintain in association with your account, such as your username and password;

- your subscription status with Substack publications;

- public information about the social media accounts you associate with your Substack account;

- your direct message contents and metadata;

- information from integrated third-party services that you choose to use or link to on Substack — for example, if you use Substack to upload video content to YouTube, we collect account identifiers (including the email address associated with the account), video identifiers, and upload status information associated with the YouTube account you use to upload video content to YouTube; and

any other information you provide us when communicating with us.

We may also collect information about you when one of our users syncs their address book information with our app for contact syncing purposes. This information collection is strictly limited to email addresses and phone numbers, and any information collected in this manner is securely stored only as hashed values.

We may also obtain additional information from third parties and sources. We use this information to supplement the information we collect about you in order to provide more relevant, safer experiences for you on the platform and to improve the platform and analytics. If we combine or associate information from other sources with information that we collect through the platform, we will treat the combined information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.