“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.”

  • @SinningStromgaldEnglish
    17•1 year ago

    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.

    Are Musky and Hamish McKenzie’s friends because that sound like the same bullshit he would say. Also, hasn’t deplatforming actually been shown to work?

    • chaogomu
      11•1 year ago

      It’s the only thing that works. Shouting Nazis into silence is the best early way to deal with them. Show up to protest in huge numbers, deplatform them, force them to scurry back into the shadows.

      Most importantly of all, keep them from recruiting more.

      Once these efforts fail, all you’re left with is violence, and violence will come, because the Nazis love it.