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

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/11806416

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.”

  • Amelia_
    23·
    1 year ago

    Oh my, I hope they didn’t hurt themselves with all the mental gymnastics they had to do!

    “we don’t like or condone bigotry in any form.” = “We don’t limit or defund bigotry in any form”

    What’s that saying about if you’re sitting at a table with a Nazi and you don’t say anything then there’s another Nazi at the table?

    • squirrelOPMEnglish
      23·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, besides Substack is also prohibiting content by sex workers. Their whole “freeze peach” argument is so openly the usual right-wing gaslighting.