“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.”

  • @[email protected]English
    -7•9 months ago

    Good for them. I’m all for allowing people make their own choices about what kind of content they want to see instead of a corporation/government deciding for them.

    I can’t think of a single thing we’ve succesfully gotten rid of by banning it. I however can think of several examples where it has had an opposite effect.

    • @[email protected]English
      2•9 months ago

      Nazi Germany. We banned the fuck out of them and it worked out great until people started to forget why.

    • @chitak166English
      -12•9 months ago

      I totally agree.

      If I don’t want to see something, I should be able to block it myself.

      I don’t want other people deciding what I should and should not see. That’s patronizing.

      • @affiliateEnglish
        11•9 months ago

        if the nazis come into power, you will not be able to “decide not to see them”

        • @[email protected]English
          -7•9 months ago

          I don’t think preemptive fascism is the solution. The world many people seem to be advocating for here doesn’t honestly seem that much different from one led by nazies. They just replace jews and gays with other groups of people they don’t like.

          • @affiliateEnglish
            10•9 months ago

            you’re conflating fascism with the actions necessary to stop fascism. you may want to read up on the “paradox of tolerance”. here’s the first sentence from the wikipedia page:

            The paradox of tolerance states that if a society’s practice of tolerance is inclusive of the intolerant, intolerance will ultimately dominate, eliminating the tolerant and the practice of tolerance with them.

            • @[email protected]English
              -7•9 months ago

              That logic is in conflict with itself. It’s literally advocating for intolerance to get rid of intolerance.

              People are against nazies but meanwhile advocate we treat other groups they dont like the way nazies would treat jews. Be that millionaires/billionaires, capitalists, republicans or whatever. “Eat the rich”

              I can’t get behind that. Daylight is the best disinfectant. I want nazies to be allowed to announce publicly that they’re nazies.

              • Flying SquidEnglish
                7•9 months ago

                Maybe you should read the whole page. Maybe then you’d learn why so many of us are against a fundraising platform which allows Nazi writers to earn money.

              • @affiliateEnglish
                3•9 months ago

                That logic is in conflict with itself. It’s literally advocating for intolerance to get rid of intolerance.

                this is why it’s called “the paradox of tolerance” my guy. did you even read the name?

                People are against nazies but meanwhile advocate we treat other groups they dont like the way nazies would treat jews.

                this is a bad faith representation of his argument. also, in this case, “people” is Karl Popper, a renowned philosopher with countless awards for his work on political science and philosophy. maybe you would understand his argument better if you actually read it.

              • @[email protected]English
                1•9 months ago

                “The paradox of tolerance” as originally stated is not “in conflict with itself”, it is pointing out a conflict that exists within the idea of “tolerance as a moral good”. The point is that “tolerance” will eventually give way to “intolerance”… one way or another. So: pick your side wisely.

                I think there are problems with the concept as it is started (others have proposed some in this post) but it’s trying to address the conflict.

          • Unaware7013
            3•9 months ago

            If you think curating what is allowed on a website is fascism, no one should listen to you at all because you clearly are talking about things you don’t understand.

            The world many people seem to be advocating for here doesn’t honestly seem that much different from one led by nazies.

            This is the absolute stupidest take I have ever seen. Read a goddamned book (or, actually understand what Nazis stand for) before you comment on things…

            They just replace jews and gays with other groups of people they don’t like.

            “Censorship and murdering entire classes of people are the same thing”