A Farewell to Substack
Profiting from hate speech and inciting violence
I won’t support an institution that permits and directly profits from hate speech and inciting violence, regardless of whether you choose to squint and say it’s not: the use of a swastika is hate speech inciting violence against Jews and others, full stop.
To our readers: I hope you’ll respect this decision, as I’ll respect your decision to continue supporting this platform or not. We’ll be in touch as we figure out the future of TND.
To the writers I support financially:
, , , , (Lex, I know you’re already in the process of exiting the platform) — I won’t continue to support your Substacks, particularly given the revenue split with Substack. I’ll respect your decision should you choose to continue writing here, even if I find it morally questionable (at best).To my former college professor,: will you continue to write here? If so, why?
I participated in Substack’s crowdfunding efforts and plan to withdraw my funds (at par) as soon as they’ll let me. I know the good people at Andreessen Horowitz are pro free speech, but I’d have to wonder how Ben Horowitz, whose Jewish grandparents fled the Russian Empire over 100 years ago, feels about this decision.
NYTimes: Substack Says It Will Not Ban Nazis or Extremist Speech / Responding to criticism of its hands-off approach to content moderation, the company said it would not ban Nazi symbols or extremist rhetoric so long as newsletter writers do not incite violence
The Atlantic: Substack Has a Nazi Problem / The newsletter platform’s lax content moderation creates an opening for white nationalists eager to get their message out
Matt,
At the very least, I would like to thank you for having wanted to support my work in the first place. I'm not quite sure how to get the money back to you, but I can certainly try. Substack's poor/dangerous decision has left me feeling angry, frustrated, and saddened.