Substack says it won't ban Nazis or extremist speech
In response to criticism of its hands-off approach to content moderation, the company said it would not ban Nazi symbols or rhetoric extremist until newsletter writers do it. incite violence.
Under pressure from critics who say Substack profits from newsletters promoting hate speech and racism, the company's founders said Thursday that they would not ban Nazi symbols and extremist symbols. platform rhetoric.
"I just want to make it clear that we don't like Nazis either - we wish no one had those opinions", Hamish McKenzie , a co-founder of Substack, said in a statement. “But some people share these and other extreme views. Given this, we do not believe that censorship (including demonetization of publications) will make the problem go away – in fact, it will make it worse. after The Atlantic discovered that at least 16 Substack newsletters had “obviously Nazi symbols” in their logos or graphics, and that white supremacists had been allowed to post on the platform and profit from it. Hundreds of newsletter editors signed a letter opposing Substack's position and threatening to leave. About 100 other people signed a letter supporting the company's position.
In the statement, Mr. McKenzie said that he and the company's other founders , Chris Best and Jairaj Sethi, had arrived. to the conclusion that censoring or demonetizing publications would not make the problem of hateful rhetoric go away.
"We believe that supporting individual rights and civil liberties while subjecting ideas to freedom speech is the best way to strip bad ideas of their power,” he said.
This position has sparked waves of outrage and criticism, including from popular Substack writers who said they did not feel comfortable working with a platform that allows hateful rhetoric to fester or thrive.
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In response to criticism of its hands-off approach to content moderation, the company said it would not ban Nazi symbols or rhetoric extremist until newsletter writers do it. incite violence.
Under pressure from critics who say Substack profits from newsletters promoting hate speech and racism, the company's founders said Thursday that they would not ban Nazi symbols and extremist symbols. platform rhetoric.
"I just want to make it clear that we don't like Nazis either - we wish no one had those opinions", Hamish McKenzie , a co-founder of Substack, said in a statement. “But some people share these and other extreme views. Given this, we do not believe that censorship (including demonetization of publications) will make the problem go away – in fact, it will make it worse. after The Atlantic discovered that at least 16 Substack newsletters had “obviously Nazi symbols” in their logos or graphics, and that white supremacists had been allowed to post on the platform and profit from it. Hundreds of newsletter editors signed a letter opposing Substack's position and threatening to leave. About 100 other people signed a letter supporting the company's position.
In the statement, Mr. McKenzie said that he and the company's other founders , Chris Best and Jairaj Sethi, had arrived. to the conclusion that censoring or demonetizing publications would not make the problem of hateful rhetoric go away.
"We believe that supporting individual rights and civil liberties while subjecting ideas to freedom speech is the best way to strip bad ideas of their power,” he said.
This position has sparked waves of outrage and criticism, including from popular Substack writers who said they did not feel comfortable working with a platform that allows hateful rhetoric to fester or thrive.
We are having difficulty retrieving the content of the article.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode, please exit and log in to your Times account, or subscribe to the 'the entire Times.
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