A few weeks following Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie's defense of the company's choice to permit Nazi content, the newsletter publishing plaform has now agreed to remove some of the publications that endorse Nazi ideologies.
Founded in 2017 in San Francisco, Substack has evolved into a central platform for journalism and online blogging. It simplifies the publication of email newsletters, enabling writers to retain 90% of their sales, while the company takes a 10% commission.
However, a few writers who have been using Substack to establish email newsletter businesses have left the platform in the past few weeks. Additionally, more writers have expressed their contemplation of leaving if Substack does not change its policies and remove financial support from "white supremacists". The company, however, contended that such action would be akin to censorship.
How did it all begin?
In November, The Atlantic identified at least 16 newsletters on Substack that depicted overt Nazi symbols, and dozens more devoted to far-right extremism. In the preceding month, an open letter signed by 247 Substack writers requested the company to elucidate its policies.
Subsequently, on December 21, the company responded through a blog post written by one of its co-founders, contending that censoring Nazi publications would potentially exacerbate extremism.
Co-founder McKenzie expressed Substack's disapproval of Nazis, stating, "we don't like Nazis either," and emphasising that Substack does not wish for anyone to hold such views. However, he asserted that the platform does not believe in censorship, including demonetising publications, as a solution to the problem.
According to McKenzie, Substack believes in supporting individual rights and civil liberties, contending that open discourse is the most effective way to diminish the influence of harmful ideas.
How did the Substack community respond?
Following the incident, numerous publications departed from the platform. Some, such as Platformer, a popular tech newsletter, announced their intention to leave unless the company took action to remove pro-Nazi content.
Simultaneously, over 100 other Substack writers, including notable figures like Bari Weiss and Richard Dawkins, endorsed a statement by writer Elle Griffin urging Substack to maintain its predominantly hands-off approach to its moderation policy.
Casey Newton, who writes Platformer, said, “Rolling out a welcome mat for Nazis is, to put it mildly, inconsistent with our values here at Platformer." He added, “It is our hope that Substack will reverse course and remove all pro-Nazi material under its existing anti-hate policies. If it chooses not to, we will plan to leave the platform.”
Newsletters that have already transitioned include Talia Lavin, a journalist with thousands of paying subscribers for her newsletter, The Sword and the Sandwich. On Tuesday, she switched to a rival service, Buttondown, stating, “We’ve left Substack behind, after its founders stated, in no uncertain terms, that they’re not just OK with, but in principle supportive of, having loads of out-and-out Nazis on their platform.”
Critics of Substack also pointed out that the platform has evolved beyond merely hosting newsletter content in a somewhat impartial manner. It now includes a recommendation feature, which some argue could amplify extremist content.
What is Substack's response?
Substack, on Monday, said that it has removed five publications that included incitements to violence. Following a review, newsletter publishing platform determined that the five publications had breached the company's current content rules, which forbid material that incites violence targeting protected classes. However, it did not name those publications or their authors.
“If and when we become aware of other content that violates our guidelines, we will take appropriate action,” the company said in a statement signed by its three co-founders, Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi.
The statement read that the platform is currently developing additional reporting tools that can be employed to identify content that may potentially breach its guidelines. "We will continue working on tools for user moderation so Substack users can set and refine the terms of their own experience on the platform,” it added.
As per the statement shared by Substack with Platformer, the company affirmed that it will maintain the current text of its content policy, and the revised policy interpretation will not encompass the proactive removal of content associated with neo-Nazis and far-right extremism. However, Substack will persist in removing any content containing "credible threats of physical harm".