Let's start with the obvious question, are there real Nazis on substack or are we talking about anyone right of AOC?
The answer to that isn't complicated.
An Atlantic article last November found that 16 out of thousands of newsletters had real deal Nazi content with swastikas, calls for white supremacy, the works.
Substack reviewed the accounts and found that six of them violated its terms of service opposing calls to violence and removed them; the rest, while presenting horribly racist ideas, did not violate its terms.
Co-founder Hamish McKenzie explained,
"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," McKenzie wrote in December. "Given that, we don't think that censorship (including through demonetizing publications) makes the problem go away — in fact, it makes it worse."
None of the nixed newsletters have paid subscribers and, in total, account for about 100 active readers, according to the company.
Of course, that free-speech view did not sit well with anti-free-speech content creators and readers.
Casey Newton who runs the popular tech newsletter Platformer said,
"I'm not aware of any major US consumer internet platform that does not explicitly ban praise for Nazi hate speech, much less one that welcomes them to set up shop and start selling subscriptions."
He's decided to leave Substack and move to another platform. And he's not alone.
200 content creators sent an open letter decrying the company's decision to keep any Nazi content on the platform, threatening to leave.
"From our perspective as Substack publishers, it is unfathomable that someone with a swastika avatar, who writes about ‘The Jewish question,' or who promotes Great Replacement Theory, could be given the tools to succeed on your platform," the letter reads.
On the other hand, 100 content creators signed an open letter supporting Substack's decision to remain a free speech champion and stay hands off.
What's the right answer here?
Honestly, I don't know.
Real Nazis are evil and they should not have a place to plan and promote violence.
But who doesn't the left consider a Nazi these days?
We've seen this scenario play out too many times. Once a company bends the knee to the far left picking at legitimate weaknesses, it's only a matter of time before that company is forced to kiss the rainbow hammer and sickle, embrace all the left's insanity, and destroy the livelihood of every normal person left on the platform.
Finally, all that's left are a bunch of Antifa types who use the platform to plan and promote violence.
Ultimately, the decision may not even be theirs since Stripe, their payment processor, has its own terms of service, which ban funding "all forms of hate speech."
Stripe banned the social network Gab from their services for the very reasons Substack is now in the crosshairs.
You've gotta think that's the long game here, to get Stripe to ban Substack payments and shut them down.
And not everyone has the power Elon Musk has brought to bear on X (formerly known as Twitter). It's too bad Substack and Musk have such a bitter rivalry.
With all of that said, I have to respect Substack's response of drawing a solid free-speech line in the sand against the rage mongers and sticking to their guns, while at the same time upholding their stance against violence.
If more companies took this high road, maybe there would be hope for America's future yet.
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