Big News: The Rip Current is Changing
After a year of building The Rip Current, I’m making a shift in how this newsletter works — and I want to be straight with you about what’s changing and why.
Hi team,
Here’s the reality: Right now, I’m publishing daily video analysis about AI, tech policy, and corporate power. It’s work that takes real time and reporting resources. And I can’t sustain doing that for free while also keeping the lights on and feeding my family.
So I’m moving most of my daily content behind a paywall.
What This Means for You
If you stay on the free tier, you’ll get:
One curated video piece per week — my take on the most important story I’ve covered
Analysis that gives you the headlines but not the full investigation
Occasional full-length pieces when they serve as entry points to bigger stories I’m building
If you upgrade to paid ($8/month or $80/year), you get:
Every daily video as news breaks, 48 hours before my content goes to YouTube (I put several hours a day into this, and my pieces build on years of reporting)
Full transcripts with added context, links, and the reporting behind the reporting
Monthly deep-dive educational series (like my upcoming Tech Power 101 collection)
Access to subscriber-only threads where you can help shape which stories I dig into next
The satisfaction of knowing you’re directly funding accountability journalism about the tech industry
Why the Change?
I’m not a hobbyist. I’m a working journalist with two decades of experience, and as so many of you have taken the time to remind me, this work — tracking down how companies use AI as cover for layoffs, investigating surveillance tech procurement, exposing choice architecture, and tying it all to the human circuitry that drives our decision-making — matters.
Free subscribers get the archive. Paid subscribers get the investigation while it’s still breaking.
If you’ve gotten value from this newsletter — if you’ve used my concepts and reporting in your own work, shared it with colleagues, or just appreciated having someone call bullshit on the AI moment we’re in — this is your chance to help keep it going.
What Happens Next
This week I’ve been sending paid subscribers an exclusive video breaking down the social media trials underway right now. The verdicts could create an entirely new legal category of harm, beyond simple theft and injury, and they could spell the end of social media as we know it. It’s a story that matters, and it will be exclusive to paid subscribers while testimony is still under way.
Next week, the paywall goes up for daily content.
You’ve got a week (next Friday the 27th) to decide whether you want the full story or just the headlines.
Annual subscriptions get a 20% discount before the new paywall goes live:
Thanks for reading, either way.
Jacob Ward
The Rip Current
Jacob, I completely understand writers need for compensation and remuneration, AND support you in this endeavor. However, in my view, this Substack pricing model is going to hurt contributors because, taken together, many of us can easily be in the $20/Month, or higher, total monthly subscriptions -- from many of the fine journalists who use this platform. As a comparison, I'm on $8/month for the NYT. Bottom line: If I took paid subscriptions for all the content providers I truly like to follow here, my monthly charge, in total, would be $40-$50 / month subscription costs. So ... in my opinion, you all content providers need to have a $5/month tier for those of us who subscribe to others here.