More than 200 Substack authors asked the platform to explain why it’s “platforming and monetizing Nazis,” and now they have an answer straight from co-founder Hamish McKenzie:
I just want to make it clear that we don’t like Nazis either—we wish no-one held those views. But some people do hold those and other extreme views. Given that, we don’t think that censorship (including through demonetizing publications) makes the problem go away—in fact, it makes it worse.
While McKenzie offers no evidence to back these ideas, this tracks with the company’s previous stance on taking a hands-off approach to moderation. In April, Substack CEO Chris Best appeared on the Decoder podcast and refused to answer moderation questions. “We’re not going to get into specific ‘would you or won’t you’ content moderation questions” over the issue of overt racism being published on the platform, Best said. McKenzie followed up later with a similar statement to the one today, saying “we don’t like or condone bigotry in any form.”
Or maybe it’s that you have no problem with Nazis using Substack, ostensibly a fundraising platform for writers, to earn money through Substack.
That’s the thing though, I do have a problem with Substack using their platform to support Nazis.
Edit: Maybe I’m ignorant of what Substack hosts already?
Are they already hosting other terrorist organizations?
Edit 2: I think I have been looking past my free speech statement, I just realized this is the first time I’ve actually advocated for a corporation censoring anyone’s speech, that is definitely making me feel a little weird.
My dilemma here is I’m too old, I still remember my grandfather and many other WW2 Veterans telling me their stories, I don’t want that to happen ever again, and right now I feel like I truly don’t know what to do for the first time in my life.
So this subject is way bigger then Substack.
Don’t fall victim to the paradox of tolerance. Tolerating intolerance leads to the end of tolerance. Nazis move outside of the social contract, and are therefore not to be tolerated.