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.”
nobody but nazis wants to be on those lol. go post on gab or whatever if you want that. it’s free. you can do it. you just don’t actually want to
Why would I want to post anything on Gab, a far-right platform?
I hoped we’ll keep on with sensible conversation.
Substack, on its part, is used by various authors and is absolutely not limited to Nazis.
the site you are imagining, the supposed free speech site? it converges to gab. this dynamic is basic and I can’t take you seriously if you don’t get this.
what exactly do you think substack will consist of in two years if they don’t do a 180? the entire reason we’re having this conversation right now is that a bunch of substack writers said they would rather leave than hang out with nazis