Substack's Subpar Subculture
The newsletter platform is supposed to be the new economic engine for culture. Yet, they let hate speech fester. Why? The answer is obvious. Writing is treated as commodity instead of sacred art. But there is a solution.
hen I tell people that I'm a writer online, often they assume I'm on Substack. The platform has successfully branded itself as "a new economic engine for culture." And I did [originally have plans](https://blog.brennan.day/medium-vs-substack-7e5f0f5e1339) to migrate and start a newsletter, but there was a rather large, existential problem with the platform.
A nazi problem.
In late 2023, [journalist Jonathan Katz documented](https://www.adl.org/resources/article/antisemitism-false-information-and-hate-speech-find-home-substack) that over a dozen newsletters on Substack featured "overt Nazi symbols, including the swastika and the sonnenrad," in their branding. This sparked the ["Substackers Against Nazis" protest letter](https://www.techpolicy.press/substack-founder-defends-commercial-relationships-with-nazis/), signed by nearly 250 writers demanding action. [Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie's response](https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/09/tech/substack-removes-newsletters-for-pro-nazi-content/index.html) was telling, while claiming they "don't like Nazis either," he argued that "censorship (including through demonetizing publications) makes the problem go away—in fact, it makes it worse."
McKenzie's claim is not supported by research. Research from Twitter, Reddit, Telegram, and Facebook has consistently shown that removing users posting hate speech does in fact reduce hate speech use When deplatformed, [users do migrate to fringe platforms](https://theconversation.com/does-deplatforming-work-to-curb-hate-speech-and-calls-for-violence-3-experts-in-online-communications-weigh-in-153177), but their broader audience is lost. Sunlight is not the best disinfectant.
The platform [eventually caved and removed a handful of accounts](https://freespeechproject.georgetown.edu/tracker-entries/substack-decision-to-remove-nazi-accounts-leads-to-outcry-over-censorship/) in January 2024, but only after immense pressure, and notably, when [prominent publications like Newton's Platformer left the platform entirely](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/01/11/substack-platformer-nazis/). What's particularly galling is [Substack's selective moderation](https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/some-thoughts-on-the-substack-controversy) shows they ban sex worker newsletters while platforming actual Nazis. What exactly is this commitment to "free speech"?
Substack's subculture is fascinating and contradictory. Cultural newsletters on the platform "serve not only as tools for distribution but also as [affective infrastructures, fostering trust, intimacy, and community](https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/6/3/128) between authors and readers." The platform has become [what some describe as "the new, more connected era of blogging"](https://janefriedman.com/substack-is-both
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