Clearly not. No company would ever betray their original principles for the opportunity to make more money in the short term

The question is not whether they can lie, theoretically. Yes, I can be as cynical as anyone in the world, but that's no great intellectual accomplishment without insight. Substack has no practical motive to lie, because that would just alienate the Substack writers upon whom Substack depends essentially. If the writers leave the platform, then Substack is absolutely nothing, worthless.

Furthermore, "only signed-in users will be able to post notes, see the feed of Notes, and engage with notes." The inability to read feeds while not logged in makes Substack Notes much more hostile to casual browsers compared to Twitter. That's not a very eyeball friendly policy. I don't see how they can even be intending to replace Twitter that way. I'd personally want to see what Notes are like before signing up for Substack, but I can't do that.

Occam's razor suggests that the purpose of Substack Notes is straightforward: to create more engagement between Substack writers and Substack subscribers. It seems like a good idea for that purpose. But a Twitter replacement? If that's the intention, it's designed totally wrong.

"Because no company would ever lie about their intentions, or at the very least pivot to the exact opposite of their original point without a second thought."

No business would pivot to a dying monetization model unless it was their last option.

Advertising is not a solution for Substack; but rather a Trojan Horse.

As much as I wish this were to true, it’s objectively false. Digital advertising is a healthy industry that powers many profitable companies. Substack is not profitable and torching money even with a 10% claim on wroters’ subscription revenue

Dying monetization model? Is that why Microsoft, Amazon and Apple App Store are splattering their properties with them like a Jackson Pollock painting?

Those are ecosystems that operate a fundamentally different model ("dream scenario").

Aaaah someone disagrees with my point of view so they must be lying!