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Substack says it will not remove or demonetize Nazi content (www.theverge.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

442 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.”

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[+] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (3 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

They can't. That would break the illusion of being an "enlightened centrist."

I.E. votes right wing, sees themselves as slightly more moderate, but sympathizer and defender of the far right and Nazis.

Or one of the many foreign troll farms found to be pushing the "enlightened centrist" narrative.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Why are you so combative? You responded to a post rebutting a desire to censor speech from a legal perspective. Being opposed to defining any speech as illegal and being a nazi sympathizer are two very different things. You do not, in fact, have to choose one.

[+] [email protected] -18 points 11 months ago (2 children)

i don't think i will, this is complicated and i don't care enough. i am not taking sides.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

🤡

[–] [email protected] -4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Won't work here, on here it is black or white, either hate Nazis and anything that even approaches it or you are one. Every other subject in the world will be grey and nuanced, and they will argue minor points to death, except for this.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you do not support removing Nazis from the public sphere, you aren't necessarily a Nazi. But you do support Nazis. That didn't make a difference between 1939 and 1945 and it doesn't make a difference now.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I agree if we're talking about literal, actual Nazis waving the flag and everything. The pushback, which I agree with, begins when people start calling everyone a Nazi, or a fascist. It has got ridiculous, I'm embarrassingly leftist and get accused of it.

You might complain when that practice of conflating slightly differing leftist views with fascism backfires and results in people accidentally defending literal Nazis, but you shouldn't have diluted the term in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

These are literal, actual Nazis waving the flag and everything.

From the article:

This latest clash over moderation comes after The Atlantic reported on Substack publications with “overt Nazi symbols” in their logos, several from prominent white nationalists, and other posts on Substack supporting those views.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago

Yeah, I get that.

[–] TacoButtPlug 2 points 11 months ago

I'm just replying to tell you I hear you. We definitely don't want to lose the weight that word carries. I'm glad the term is being accurately used in this case.