this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
861 points (96.4% liked)

Technology

59453 readers
4067 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
L3s
[email protected]
[email protected]
L4s
enu
861
Substack says it will not remove or demonetize Nazi content (www.theverge.com)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology
422 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] FlyingSquid 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you do not support removing Nazis from the public sphere, you aren't necessarily a Nazi. But you do support Nazis. That didn't make a difference between 1939 and 1945 and it doesn't make a difference now.

[–] feedum_sneedson -1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I agree if we're talking about literal, actual Nazis waving the flag and everything. The pushback, which I agree with, begins when people start calling everyone a Nazi, or a fascist. It has got ridiculous, I'm embarrassingly leftist and get accused of it.

You might complain when that practice of conflating slightly differing leftist views with fascism backfires and results in people accidentally defending literal Nazis, but you shouldn't have diluted the term in the first place.

[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

These are literal, actual Nazis waving the flag and everything.

From the article:

This latest clash over moderation comes after The Atlantic reported on Substack publications with “overt Nazi symbols” in their logos, several from prominent white nationalists, and other posts on Substack supporting those views.

[–] feedum_sneedson -2 points 11 months ago

Yeah, I get that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I'm just replying to tell you I hear you. We definitely don't want to lose the weight that word carries. I'm glad the term is being accurately used in this case.