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.”

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      paradox of tolerance

      From the article

      “I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise.”

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          there is nothing worthwhile lost silencing nazi bullshit from social media

          "… as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise.”

          If you don’t win the argument, the argument goes on forever.

          • Baines@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            lol imagine trying to ‘win’ an argument with an idiot instead of just mocking them for the lulz…

            • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              lol imagine trying to ‘win’ an argument with an idiot instead of just mocking them for the lulz…

              It’s not about winning, or replying directly to just the troll/conflict bot.

              It’s about leaving an elaboration of the initial opinion, for everyone else who comes by later to the topic and reads.

              • Baines@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                it’s not trolling to refuse to engage bad actors

                anyone who thinks you can reason those fools into enlightenment is lol

                mock, deride, condemn, move on

                social rejection is how you handle it, when they want to be a part of the social contract they can return