Mike Masnick ✅I had some thoughts about @nilay_patel's interview with Substack's Chris Best.
Ken White@mmasnick @nilay_patel Yeah, I really don’t get the refusal to answer the question.
Justin Schuh@Popehat @mmasnick @nilay_patel I feel like I get it. From my own experience the worst thing that can come out of this kind of interview is to get pinned down saying something that turns into a really bad headline. So, he just stuck to the canned line that the lawyers and PR cooked up.
The thing is that it's really not very hard to avoid getting pinned down without completely faceplanting like he did. But that would require being at least somewhat versed in trust and safety concerns, and being able to point to some actual efforts Substack is making in that space. IMHO the complete failure at that is why this interview was so bad. Because it reinforces all the other evidence that Substack is simply ignoring trust and safety almost entirely as a concern.
Ian McKellar@jschuh @Popehat @mmasnick @nilay_patel
What I don't understand is why the PR team & lawyers haven't had a set of answers cooked up for this question literally years ago. This is an obvious question that any half good journalist will ask anyone launching a new publishing / social media company.
What I don't understand is why the PR team & lawyers haven't had a set of answers cooked up for this question literally years ago. This is an obvious question that any half good journalist will ask anyone launching a new publishing / social media company.
@ian @Popehat @mmasnick @nilay_patel Because lawyers and PR can't cook up a reasonable set of responses in a vacuum. They need to be informed by at least some semblance of a trust and safety team. That's why I interpret the years of Substack failing so miserably at this to mean that for all intents and purposes they simply don't have a trust & safety team.
Katherine Derbyshire@jschuh @ian @Popehat @mmasnick @nilay_patel Exactly. The correct answer is something like “We’re not going to be the Nazi bar. Period. And we’ll need to look at our TOS to see the best way to ensure that. But the bottom line is that we’re not a platform for Nazis.” Refusal to come out and say that? Very bad look.
@kewms @jschuh @Popehat @mmasnick @nilay_patel
The problem for an American company is that overt racism is not only the editorial line of major mainstream media organizations, but also the platform of one of the two major parties. By saying "we're not going to be the Nazi bar" you're limiting your audience and revenue drastically. They don't want to have to make that call. Unfortunately for them, they've chosen a business where they have to make that call.
The problem for an American company is that overt racism is not only the editorial line of major mainstream media organizations, but also the platform of one of the two major parties. By saying "we're not going to be the Nazi bar" you're limiting your audience and revenue drastically. They don't want to have to make that call. Unfortunately for them, they've chosen a business where they have to make that call.
@ian @jschuh @Popehat @mmasnick @nilay_patel Yes, exactly. If you're going to open a bar, you have to decide whether to serve Nazis.