After the open letter

Reflections on the previous week and the Substackers Against Nazis open letter

Last week, I - along with 200+ other Substack publishers - cross-posted an open letter to the leadership of Substack which asked them for a response on allowing Nazis to have Substack newsletters and earn an income from them, which seems to be in conflict with the intent of their own content guidelines concerning hate.

To date (as of 9:20 PM Atlantic time on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023) the company has not officially responded to the open letter. By only linking to newsletters written by Substack publishers and by likes on a few social media posts which generally seem to favour free speech and self-curation by Substack users, plus any statements made in the past, Substack has said nothing directly to its publishers on the topics raised in the Substackers Against Nazis open letter since it was published. Their position is laissez-faire moderation with the notable exceptions of nudity, porn and erotica, which I understand they enforce regularly and consistently.

A number of Substack writers and readers have posted in support of Substack’s practices for content moderation and the way the platform allows a significant degree of curation ability for its publishers and readers. And there have been lots of posts and reaction concerning free speech.

I was going to share a lot of thoughts about the details in Substack’s content guidelines but I’m not sure that’s necessary. I’m not a lawyer but I think the end result is this: Substack has stated content guidelines (which, incidentally, seem to be focused on the specific, stated threat of violence which leaves a lot of wiggle room for hate content to slip through) but Substack also has pretty wide latitude on interpretation of these guidelines and enforcement of them.

[again, except for nudity, porn and erotica - apparently]

The only real option for anyone objecting to hate content on a Substack site/newsletter - outside of hiding it from view - that doesn’t fit a fairly narrow definition is to report the content using the existing tools that Substack provides. Well wait, there’s one other option: send an email to tos@substackinc.com and state your objection. Then wait for your response.

Based on the information that I’ve seen to date, that’s the only conclusion I can draw.

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Freedom of expression is a difficult thing to discuss in a global context because different countries, even different parts of countries, have different interpretations of what’s permissible. As Substack is a US company it appears to be bound by US laws. US laws do define hate speech but in practice, my understanding is that there are very few charges and damages levied for those who practice hate speech even if they are found to be breaking the law. [EDIT: it appears that I didn’t fully understand the distinctions between hate speech and hate crimes in US laws. I believe the general point is true, that countries may legislate hate speech and hate crimes differently.] And, to be honest, in public very few people would be foolish enough to openly defy the hate speech laws in front of a wide audience, even in the US.

I don’t actually like the idea of putting limits on freedom of expression and preventing people from revealing their true thoughts and feelings. However, I think it is fair for all expression to have consequences. That’s why countries have slander and libel laws, and protections that are intended for public safety. This is why companies have terms of service, user agreements and content guidelines.

But it seems clear, based on what I’ve seen over the past week, that there is no universal standard among Substack publishers of what the limits of freedom of expression should be.

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On the surface, you could argue that Substack is merely a platform, much like WordPress is a platform for long form content. But with the community and curation functions that Substack has built, plus its active promotion of some publishers, its algorithms and its revenue sharing agreements with publishers, it’s not just a simple office building where people rent space and use the office equipment.

Is it the same thing as a traditional media company like CNN, Fox News, the BBC or the CBC?

I don’t know. But again, it’s not an office building.

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I feel like there’s more to come in this story. Also, I haven’t acknowledged all of the work that went into building Substack and keeping it running. There are a lot of good people working at Substack and a lot of good people using Substack to do important work. Please accept my gratitude for this.

But I have misgivings and lack of direct communication from Substack leadership doesn’t help. We fill voids with our speculations in the absence of concrete information.

My point of view.

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I have paused all paid subscriptions for How About This effective immediately. This is no great inconvenience to anyone as I don’t earn a lot of revenue from this newsletter and I have put an extremely small amount of content behind a paywall anyway. But right now I don’t feel comfortable in earning any income through the Substack platform.

Still continuing to watch things with interest. And I’m planning to post again next week but hopefully about happier topics. As for the future, well, who knows?

Be well and stay safe.