Substack and the Nazi Question

Here’s the thing, I don’t want to lie awake at night wondering if I’m supporting hate speech by using Substack, but ever since The Atlantic called attention to Substack’s “Nazi problem,” that’s exactly what’s happened. The various group letters (see this and that) have clarified nothing, and the response from Substack’s founders did little more than further muddy the waters. The clearest thinking so far has been from Ken White and that was largely a critique of Substack’s underwhelming response. Here are the things I’m thinking about as I consider my future on Substack.

I consider myself a free speech advocate, but when it comes to hate speech—speech that promotes the mistreatment, abuse or murder of people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or medical condition—my position is, at its most generous, one of bare tolerance. If there was a way to reliably and accurately ban hate speech from public discourse, I would be tempted to endorse it, but I don’t think that’s possible, and I’m very reluctant to give anyone the power to ban speech because I know that they’ll eventually abuse that power.

I also think open discussion of controversial issues is of vital importance to a liberal democracy, but I don’t think that hate speech, and especially Nazi speech, qualifies as controversial. The belief that a master Aryan race exists and is entitled to rule all other people and exterminate whole ethnic groups is as ludicrous (though far more dangerous) as the belief that the earth is flat. These ideas have been thoroughly debunked and tossed onto the rubbish heap of history. There is no controversy here, and no real value to further debate or discussion. Just because an idea is repugnant doesn’t mean it’s controversial. We could and should spend our time discussing the many other real and important controversial issues that our society faces daily.

I live in a city in which Nazi’s also live. I imagine that they’re busy publishing manifestos and ranting on the internet while taking advantage of the public services offered by the city. Do I support hate speech by paying taxes and contributing to the welfare of the city? Is it useful to compare my residence in this city to my use of Substack? I think it’s reasonable to say that the city and Substack both enable hate speech—though the city does so indirectly while Substack enables hate speech directly—but I feel no compulsion to move away from my city.

Substack has a feature that recommends newsletters and Notes from writers you don’t currently follow (a Note is Substack’s term for shorter posts like you might find on Twitter/X). Will a bunch of Nazis start showing up in my recommendations? Will Substack use recommendations of my writing to draw people to hate speech? Substack squandered their first opportunity to address these sorts of questions by side stepping the issues and instead patting themselves on the back for their devotion to “free speech.” In fact, Substack’s response read more like marketing designed to attract even more hate speech, which increases my concerns that Substack will soon be inundated with hate speech where previously I’ve seen very, very little.

I also don’t see why a devotion to the principles of free speech requires Substack to ensure that purveyors of hate must be able to make a profit from their speech. According to The Atlantic, Substack took special measures to help one Nazi writer find a way to monetize their hate even when Substack’s only supported payment processor refused to handle their business. I mean, what the fuck is up with that. Devotion to free speech also doesn’t mean that a founder of Substack needs to promote Nazis by inviting them onto their podcast. There are plenty of other people with serious ideas about real controversial issues that our society would actually benefit from hearing. Why use that time and energy to promote a Nazi? (And if you were duped, at least offer a sincere apology.)

Substack’s professed devotion to free speech seems even more like a joke when you read their content guidelines regarding sex: “We don’t allow porn.” You might recall that courts have ruled porn actually is protected free speech. Substack does allow erotic literature and artistic nudity but it’s not at all clear how that differs from porn. In addition they “may hide or remove explicit content from Substack’s discovery features, including search and on Substack.com.” Apparently this bastion of free speech considers sex so much more dangerous and offensive than hate that they must either ban it or take special precautions against it. They certainly aren’t going out of their way to help sex writers monetize their content. I guess only writers of hate deserve special treatment?

Substack’s content guidelines don’t actually say much about hate speech. The section titled “Hate” simply states that using Substack to “publish content or fund initiatives that incite violence based on protected classes” is prohibited. So it’s really a section about violence, which they reinforce with the clarification that it includes “credible threats of physical harm.” The section makes no mention of other types of hate speech targeting protected classes. And, as mentioned above, there’s no statement that indicates Substack might limit the reach of hate speech.

Where does this leave me? As I said at the beginning, I’m an advocate of free speech, but after reading Substack’s content guidelines, I don’t really believe that they are all that committed to free speech. They actually prohibit quite a bit of speech, which is, of course, their right. They are not the government, and they get to decide how they want to run their business, but they are clearly not the big champions of free speech that they pretend.

I’d be more comfortable if Substack treated writers of hate like they currently treat sex writers. It would be great if they would also treat sex writers like they currently treat hate writers, but that’s probably way too much to wish for. I’d like some assurances that Substack is not going to recommend Nazi and hate speech to my readers (unless they’ve expressed a preference for that), and that they’re not going recommend my work next to Nazi and hate speech. For the most part, Substack lets readers control what they see, which is a major plus that initially drew me to the platform, but there are “public areas” and we don’t really have any insight into how Substack curates what happens there.

Eventually, Substack could become “that Nazi site” because every few posts it recommends will be from Nazis and other writers who have migrated to the platform to make a living from their hate. I don’t want to be associated with such a platform, and I’m pretty sure that my readers don’t want to be on such a platform. I also think Substack management doesn’t want this and will eventually change their minds and create ways to limit the reach of hate speech. As to Substack’s profiting off of hate, it would be great if they’d donate a sizable portion of all hate-derived profits to an anti-hate charity, or, even better, simply prevent monetization of hate speech altogether. You can do that and still be a champion of free speech.

I have no idea if any of this will actually come to pass, but, I think, for now, I’ll hold out and see where things go. I believe that Substack is better than other social media sites. The amount of control they give writers and readers is unprecedented and deeply appreciated. I saw one person comment that they were cancelling all their Substack subscriptions, but they seemed quite content to remain on Facebook. Given Facebook’s history and policies, that made me scratch my head for sure. Substack is, in my opinion, definitely better than Facebook or Twitter/X.

All my content is free to access so you don’t have to feel that you’re financially supporting Substack, but I understand if all of this makes you too uncomfortable to stay. Hopefully, we’ll be able to look back on this as a temporary misstep from a young company trying to attract a balance of popular and controversial writers. Let’s hope that Substack’s leadership realizes this before the site becomes dominated by Nazis and there’s nothing left that’s popular or controversial because it’s all been killed by hate. I’m rooting for Substack and I try to be optimistic, but considering what’s happened to all of the other tech/media companies, I fear that I’m being naïve. Let’s see what the New Year brings.

Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash