“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.”

  • Gamers_Mate@kbin.social
    936·
    9 months ago

    “we don’t like or condone bigotry in any form.” I mean they are litterally Condoning bigotry.

    “His response similarly doesn’t engage other questions from the Substackers Against Nazis authors, like why these policies allow it to moderate spam and newsletters from sex workers but not Nazis.”

    Doesn’t seem very consistent.

    • Unaware7013@kbin.social
      564·
      9 months ago

      Substack: Nazis are cool, but you better not be selling sex related shit! We have standards!

      • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
        402·
        9 months ago

        “We do not condone Nazi propaganda, but we are very concerned about sex work causing social degeneracy.”

        • OnlyTakesLsEnglish
          31·
          9 months ago

          The porn thing is probably from banks. You can fight a lot of things, but banks arent one.

          • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
            31·
            9 months ago

            Capitalism is where it comes from in regular old fascism too. The scapegoating of minorities, including sexual minorities, is done on behalf of capitalists to both distract from their crimes and because they tend to be extremely conservative.

    • admiralteal@kbin.social
      252·
      9 months ago

      Condone (transitive verb): To overlook, forgive, or disregard (an offense) without protest or censure.

      Neat.

      • brbpostingEnglish
        10·
        9 months ago

        Interesting, I generally think of the Merriam-Webster definition:

        to regard or treat (something bad or blameworthy) as acceptable, forgivable, or harmless

        Or perhaps even further than that: actually approving of something. Guess “condone” is a little weaker of a word than I thought. But its popularity calls for being extra careful of even overlooking wrongdoing.