this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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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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[–] ZeroCool@feddit.ch 215 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I just want to make it clear that we don’t like Nazis either

Actions speak louder than words. Fuck Substack and fuck any platform that offers a safe haven for nazis.

[–] whofearsthenight@lemm.ee 127 points 10 months ago

"I want you to know that I don't like nazis. But I am fine platforming them and profiting from them. Now here is some bullshit about silencing 'ideas.'"

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[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 161 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (32 children)

If there are 10 nazis at a table and you decide to sit among them, there are 11 nazis sitting at that table.

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[–] Synthead@lemmy.world 114 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Freedom of speech doesn't mean that you are obligated to host a platform so shitty people can use it to share shitty ideals. It simply means that you won't get arrested on a federal level.

Websites can do whatever they want, including deciding that they don't want to be a platform for hate speech. If people are seeking a place for this conversation genre to happen, and they want it enough, they can run their own website.

Imagine if you invited a friend of a friend over, and they were sharing nasty ideals at your Christmas party. And they brought their friends. Are you just going to sit there and let them turn your dinner into a political rally? No, you're going to kick them out. It's your dinner, like it is your website. If you don't kick them out, then at some level, you're aligning with them.

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[–] TacoButtPlug@sh.itjust.works 94 points 10 months ago (23 children)

Yea... Meta took the same "free peaches" approach and the entire fucking globe is now dealing with various versions of white nationalism. So like, can we actually give censorship of hate a fucking try for once? I'm willing to go down that road.

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[–] fubo@lemmy.world 90 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (12 children)

To be clear — what McKenzie is saying here is that Substack will continue to pay Nazis to write Nazi essays. Not just that they will host Nazi essays (at Substack's cost), but they will pay for them.

They are, in effect, hiring Nazis to compose Nazi essays.

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[–] Gamers_Mate@kbin.social 84 points 10 months ago (4 children)

“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 50 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 38 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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

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[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 76 points 10 months ago (3 children)

So substack is a pro-nazi platform run by Nazi enablers, got it.

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[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 75 points 10 months ago (2 children)
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[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 73 points 10 months ago (15 children)

This would be silly even if they didn’t moderate at all but they do. They don’t allow sex workers use their service. And we aren’t talking about “Nazis” as a code word for the far right. The complaint letter cited literal Nazis with swastika logos.

Plus, how grand are his delusions of grandeur if he thinks his fucking glorified email blast manager is the one true hope for free speech? Let the Nazis self-host an open source solution (like Ghost).

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[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 71 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So they are a Nazi platform. End of.

[–] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 52 points 10 months ago (3 children)

If you run a bar, and Nazis hang out in your bar, you run a Nazi bar

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[–] RealFknNito@lemmy.world 71 points 10 months ago (16 children)

Do not tolerate the intolerant.

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[–] yamanii@lemmy.world 66 points 10 months ago (8 children)

"Let's tolerate the people that say they want to genocide entire ethnic groups" Surely nothing bad is gonna happen /s

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[–] BeautifulMind@lemmy.world 63 points 10 months ago (7 children)
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[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 61 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Being a Nazi isn't a "view." It is a political movement guided by the principles of hate, violence, and genocide.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 56 points 10 months ago (6 children)

So let me get this straight... They don't like Nazis, but Nazis not making money is worse than Nazis making money?

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[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 55 points 10 months ago (7 children)

"We don't like or condone bigotry in any form."

...But we are happy to financially support bigotry and directly profit from it.

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[–] Girru00@lemmy.world 52 points 10 months ago (1 children)

McKenzie followed up later with a similar statement to the one today, saying “we don’t like or condone bigotry in any form.

Condone:

verb accept and allow (behavior that is considered morally wrong or offensive) to continue

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[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 46 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (10 children)

Okay fine, I'm never clicking on a substack link again.

And after say a grace period of about 6 months to move elsewhere, I'm going to assume anyone associating with the service is at best a nazi sympathiser

Go ahead, be a Nazi bar, I'm sure their money is worth it

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[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 44 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

We already knew that SS liked Nazis.

All joking aside, silencing Nazis and deplatforming them is LITERALLY fighting against them. How is allowing them to make money and market themselves on your platform doing anything to stem the tide of Nazism? Obviously they're playing culture war games and saying they're not.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 41 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Is substack used in the EU? They might want to rethink their stance then...

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[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 39 points 10 months ago (12 children)

On one hand, Substack is in it's rights and as a journalistic organization, they are in the right.

The issue is: Once you serve a Nazi in your bar, you become a Nazi bar. Substack is going to become shitty, and fast. They will lose high engagement users, first when the ones who protested pile out for another platform and then quickly when the quality dips.

Also, their cavalier attitude will change when Stripe steps in.

[–] nukeworker10@lemmy.world 27 points 10 months ago

You can contact Stripe at the link to let them know about the company they are associating with.

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[–] ira@lemmy.ml 39 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

What does Substack plan to do with the profits that it makes from hosting Nazi content?

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[–] Napain@lemmy.ml 36 points 10 months ago

this is enablement

[–] ThatFembyWho@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 10 months ago (3 children)

So they have no rules, any content is acceptable?

Anything less is "censorship" after all

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[–] Boiglenoight@lemmy.world 29 points 10 months ago

This is plainly irresponsible.

[–] Unaware7013@kbin.social 29 points 10 months ago

TIL that Substack is apparently a bunch of crypto-fascists who expect people to believe they don't support Nazis, they just give them money and a place at their table to talk about it.

[–] yuki2501@lemmy.world 28 points 10 months ago

And then people wonder why we're so scared of Facebook if the fediverse is "supposed to be open".

The answer is literally in front of you, people!

[–] Sylvartas@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago (6 children)

What a stupid argument. Imagine replacing "nazis" with "pedophiles" in her answer

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