“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.”

  • Sanyanov@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    7 months ago

    I see your point, and this is exactly why I say this shouldn’t happen on mainstream media - this should always be part of platforms one goes to in look for controversies.

    We should not allow nor tolerate Nazism or other things like that on mainstream Lemmy instances, for example.

    However, we have to set some place for everyone to have a voice. In many places, me calling for communism, for example, will be met with an instant permaban, with people saying I advocate gulags and bloody wars (I do not). And I always wish to have a place to voice my ideas, because I think they’re right, regardless of the sentiment that may push mainstream platforms one direction or the other. But that means you’ll end up needing a platform allowing everyone - and it should exist as well.

    Those are just two systems, and both are necessary for us to prosper.