“We don’t think that censorship (including through demonetizing publications) makes the problem go away.”

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.”

  • @ThatFembyWhoEnglish
    43•6 months ago

    So they have no rules, any content is acceptable?

    Anything less is “censorship” after all

    • @chitak166@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5•6 months ago

      They probably have to follow laws and that’s it.

      Seems like fine platform, imo. Just let people communicate with the same amount of freedom they would have in real life.

      • ChetzemokaEnglish
        45•6 months ago

        In real life, a restaurant can and will kick you out and ban you from the premises for wearing a swastika and saying you think minorities don’t deserve to live.

        Ergo, being kicked off a company’s privately owned server for hate speech is EXACTLY the same amount of freedom they would have in real life.

        Everyone loves censorship. Even you.

      • Flying SquidEnglish
        11•6 months ago

        The same amount of freedom, but a much easier job to make money off of your bigotry! A site not afraid to help Nazis earn money! Sounds like a fine platform!

      • @afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4•6 months ago

        Watch when the school shoot manifestors pop up, people post lists of addresses and names of minority groups, coordinated grey-legal attacks come from it. Plus of course the piracy, the kiddie porn, the revenge porn, the scams and grifts, the Russian misinformation.