The CEO of Substack Emailed Me at 3AM… (and I Thought I Was in Trouble)

I opened the email expecting a ban. Instead I got an apology from Chris Best (“This sucks. I’m sorry.”). Here's what really happened and why every writer should pay attention now

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This morning I woke up, checked my email, and saw something that made my stomach drop.

An email from Chris Best. The CEO of Substack.

My first thought?

Oh no. What did I do?

And the timing made it worse.

Just yesterday I spoke with a former lawyer 🎈Noemi from ME TIME 🎈 about Substack’s community rules. What you can say. What you can’t say. What gets people banned.

So when the CEO emails you right after that talk… your brain goes wild.

• Did someone report me?

• Did I break a rule?

• Is my account gone?

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So I opened the email with full drama mode activated.

tenor

And then… surprise.

I wasn’t in trouble or banned.

I did nothing wrong!

Chris Best was apologizing.

Substack’s CEO apologized to me

Yes. The CEO of Substack (the man in the middle) wrote to apologize.

photo credit: Substack

He even said,

“This sucks. I’m sorry.”

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You don’t hear that from CEOs very often.

So what happened?

There was a security issue. An unauthorized third party accessed some user data.

Good news:

• Not passwords.

• Not credit cards.

• Not financial info.

But email addresses and phone numbers.

Mine included!

When I read that, I felt two things at once.

1. Relief. This had nothing to do with me breaking rules.

2. And concern. Because email and phone data can be used for phishing and scams.

So let me translate this email for you.

email I got from Chris Best

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What does Chris Best’s email mean and why should I care?

When they say “unauthorized access” it means someone got into a system who should not have.

When they say “limited user data” it means not everything was exposed, but some personal info was.

When they say “we have no evidence of misuse” it means they don’t see attacks yet. But we should still stay alert.

From a legal view, companies must inform users fast when data is exposed. From a security view, trust is everything.

Platforms like Substack, KIT, Beehive, MailChimp and others hold our email lists, our income, our work. So transparency matters.

And honestly? I was glad they told us.

They owned it. They apologized. They explained it.

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What I replied to Chris Best and why we all need to be careful now

Say I’m stupid, but I even replied and said I still love this platform.

But we all need to be careful now:

Tenor

• If you get emails that look like Substack but feel strange… double check them.

• If your phone rings and someone claims to be support or acting in the name of Substack or so… be cautious.

This is the moment to stay sharp.

Now I want to hear from you!

Did you also get this email from Substack? Or was it just me?

Have you ever received an email from a platform that made your heart stop for a second?

Tell me in the comments. I read every one.

And if you want to grow on Substack, write better emails, and stay ahead of everything happening on the platform… I have something for you.

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