Special Thursday Edition—Substackers Against Nazis

Unfortunately, Substack hosts (and profits) from them

**Below is a letter to the Substack founders, drafted by a group of writers and publishers on this platform, seeking answers to questions about the hosting and monetizing of Nazis. We are all publishing the letter on our individual Substacks today for visibility and to inform our readers of our questions and concerns.

If you’re a publisher who would like to join this collective effort, we encourage you to repost the letter on your own Substack. And if this letter resonates, please share this post with others. If you want to you can let us know you’ve done so here and we’ll add you to the signatory page.**

Shortly after I began publishing my Twists & Turns newsletter on Substack, The Atlantic published a disturbing article called “Substack Has a Nazi Problem” by journalist Jonathan M. Katz. I encourage you to read the article in full, especially if you publish on Substack.

Later, in a post on his own Substack, Katz wrote:

As I made clear, starting in the lede, the problem was less that the newsletter company doesn’t enforce its written terms of service against these sites, and more that it both allows some white nationalists to monetize their content—and that Substack’s CEO Chris Best and co-founder Hamish McKenzie actively promote open racists who take advantage of that boost to funnel their audiences toward the harder stuff. I also made sure to note that Substack does censor certain kinds of speech, including pornography, meaning that that they are making choices here that go beyond some sort of abstract free-speech absolutism.

Katz’s Atlantic piece isn’t the first place Substack has been called out for its lax and inconsistent content moderation and their willingness to profit from hate speech and conspiracy theories. Vox published “Substack writers are mad at Substack. The problem is money and who’s making it” in March 2021, criticizing Substack’s lack of transparency in its Pro program. In March 2022, Mashable published “Why substack creators are leaving the platform, again,” calling Substack out for, among other things, not enforcing its Terms of Use and Content Guidelines.

Thus far, Substack CEO Chris Best and co-founders Jairaj Sethi and Hamish McKenzie seem committed to a version of free speech that is, at best, selective. But their willingness to profit off of hate speech and misinformation isn’t something I’m comfortable with. I’m not alone. While many creators, some quite prominent, have left the platform, others, like myself, are asking for an adequate explanation of their policies and positions on this matter:

Dear Chris, Hamish & Jairaj:

We’re asking a very simple question that has somehow been made complicated: Why are you platforming and monetizing Nazis? 

According to a piece written by Substack publisher Jonathan M. Katz and published by The Atlantic on November 28, this platform has a Nazi problem: 

“Some Substack newsletters by Nazis and white nationalists have thousands or tens of thousands of subscribers, making the platform a new and valuable tool for creating mailing lists for the far right. And many accept paid subscriptions through Substack, seemingly flouting terms of service that ban attempts to ‘publish content or fund initiatives that incite violence based on protected classes’...Substack, which takes a 10 percent cut of subscription revenue, makes money when readers pay for Nazi newsletters.”

As Patrick Casey, a leader of a now-defunct neo-Nazi group who is banned on nearly every other social platform except Substack, wrote on here in 2021: “I’m able to live comfortably doing something I find enjoyable and fulfilling. The cause isn’t going anywhere.” Several Nazis and white supremacists including Richard Spencer not only have paid subscriptions turned on but have received Substack “Bestseller” badges, indicating that they are making at a minimum thousands of dollars a year.

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. And yet you’ve been unable to adequately explain your position. 

In the past you have defended your decision to platform bigotry by saying you “make decisions based on principles not PR” and “will stick to our hands-off approach to content moderation.” But there’s a difference between a hands-off approach and putting your thumb on the scale. We know you moderate some content, including spam sites and newsletters written by sex workers. Why do you choose to promote and allow the monetization of sites that traffic in white nationalism? 

Your unwillingness to play by your own rules on this issue has already led to the announced departures of several prominent Substackers, including Rusty Foster and Helena Fitzgerald. They follow previous exoduses of writers, including Substack Pro recipient Grace Lavery and Jude Ellison S. Doyle, who left with similar concerns. 

As journalist Casey Newton told his more than 166,000 Substack subscribersafter Katz’s piece came out: “The correct number of newsletters using Nazi symbols that you host and profit from on your platform is zero.” 

We, your publishers, want to hear from you on the official Substack newsletter. Is platforming Nazis part of your vision of success? Let us know—from there we can each decide if this is still where we want to be.

Signed, 

Substackers Against Nazis

Thank you for reading. My regular content will resume on Tuesday. In the meantime, I wish you a very happy weekend.

Holly xx