Yesterday Substack reached unicorn status (1 billion dollar valuation). Yes, Substack, the publishing equivalent of a Nazi bar.
2 months ago I collected evidence of what the lack of moderation does: putting unchecked racism, antisemitism & fatphobia out in the open.
I collected evidence but I'm not the right person to air this. Do you have recommendations re: bloggers / journalists who might be interested?
Update: I just wrote to Jason at 404 Media πββοΈ
In my earlier toot I cited "overt racism and antisemitism" but the screenshots I gathered - posts by a very popular account with zero moderation - also include:
- homophobia
- misogyny
- dangerous misinformation around health issues
and so much unchecked hatred. The list could go on and on...
1 billion dollar valuation for a company with zero content moderation is very problematic.
I need to check if my reports of abuse were followed up on (terribly racist comments I had found). Ugh.
Update no.2:
No, Substack did not moderate the comments I had reported. They are still up. How bad are they? So bad they make my stomach turn. One in particular - terribly racist and with 6 likes by other users - haunted me for days.
And:
I just wrote to Jason at 404 Media with links to the problematic posts and unmoderated comments. Let's see. (Longtime fan of @404mediaco here)
@Lioh I am looking for a better person to deliver this message but I feel like I have a duty to speak up.
They allow hate speech and dangerous misinformation to circulate.
Most criticism of Substack I have seen is theoretical ("lack of moderation") but when you see the evidence of the problematic content, you get a real visceral reaction.
It's about time journalists covered that. Not me, actual journalists. This needs to be out there and not normalized or swept under the rug
@Lioh that's my point. I don't want it to be normalized. What kind of message does this send to the groups affected? And to children and young adults?
Sorry but I want my daughter to grow up in a world where hate speech is reined in and deemed unacceptable.
@samantha42 thank you Samantha. My point exactly.
I have many dear friends who are very liberal and use Substack without thinking about it twice. If they saw how hate speech is allowed to run free on there, they may have second thoughts about it.
One important question is whether users should leave a platform due to disagreement with other users of the platform.
If somebody likes the platform and have never seen the alleged posts and have not been affected by it in any way, I would not expect them to leave without having seen any evidence of the abuse.
I have heard rumors of another platform being a haven for a certain class of illegal material. I havenβt seen evidence of the rumors being true. I donβt want to search for the illegal material or ask how to find such illegal material. But that means Iβll likely never see any proof of illegal material being present on the platform.
If such rumors were enough for everybody to leave the platform, then it would be too easy to kill off a platform with a false rumor.
People do not agree on what level of moderation is right. A platform might choose that they will allow anything as long as it is legal. Another platform may post a set of rules and moderate content as they see fit. The later does sometimes cause innocent content to be censored and still doesnβt prevent abusive content. For example I have multiple times experienced facebook removing some of my posts for no reason at all. And I have also frequently experienced that they would not remove obviously abusive content.
If somebody publishing content have a choice between a platform that allows anything as long as itβs legal and another platform which will censor content based on an arbitrary interpretation of some vaguely stated rules, then I can understand why some persons may choose the platform where anything goes. They will be more likely to make that choice, if they have previously been victim of baseless censorship.
You certainly have a point there. But sometimes itβs also important to ask if you have a viable alternative. I have a facebook account because there are people who I donβt have any other contact information for.
Until I have a replacement for facebook that I can fully get behind and recommend to all my contacts on facebook, I am not going to leave that platform. And even though I know facebook is doing a bad job at moderation, then thatβs less important to me than the people I am connected with there, who for the most part are decent people.
Substack appears more than happy to profit from harm and hate.
"[...] Substack's refusal to tackle misinformation and hate speech is still happening. Writers are publicly speaking out about leaving Substack or calling out the company's policies when it comes to free speech, content moderation, and censorship."
πhttps://mashable.com/article/substack-writers-leaving-misinformation
@crecente good that Mashable covered this in 2022... I feel like the situation has only worsened.
I came upon something by accident (because I quit it a long time ago) and I was shocked (SHOCKED I tell you!) about the rhetoric on Substack. Commenters show unabashed racism and homophobia... and there's dangerous misinformation around health stuff.
I reported some terrible, stomach-turning comments... and they are still up
𧑠Thank you for doing your part in reporting unacceptable online content! That is more than most folks would do.
(I work for a NGO in the US. We prevent violence against adolescents. Online content causes harm in many ways.)
Hopefully Substack has taken appropriate action by now.
If not, there might be some other options for reporting the content. This guidance from the Let's STOP Hate Speech group, funded by the EU might be helpful:
πhttps://absbg.eu/en/european-commission-combating-hate-speech-and-hate-crime/
#hatespeech #substack #misinformation #racism #publichealth #media
European Commission: https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/combatting-discrimination/racism-and-xenophobia/combating-hate-speech-and-hate-crime_en The legal and policy framework in the EU The European Union is founded on values such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. All forms of hatred and intolerance are incompatible with these fundamental rights and values. Hatred...
@Lukather actually the great Molly White (not tagging her on purpose because I quote her about this all the time and I don't want to bother her yet again) did a fantastic pricing breakdown showing how Substack is the most expensive option out there: https://hachyderm.io/@molly0xfff/114319870485786053
If you need help moving, I could offer advice about Ghost (Ghost itself has a concierge service for this)
Attached: 1 image Yep. I saved hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month just from switching from Substack to self-hosted Ghost. https://digiday.com/media/former-substack-creators-say-theyre-earning-more-on-new-platforms-that-offer-larger-shares-of-subscription-revenue/ I pay a roughly flat $85/month now (~$75 for mailsending, $10 for hosting), vs. 10% of all my subscription income. Hereβs some napkin math for how expensive Substack is compared to its competitors, assuming that roughly 7% of all subscribers will pay for their subscriptions, and that subscriptions cost $5/month.
@rimesparse yes I thought about her! thank you for the great recommendation.
I'll wait a day or two to see if I get a response to my first inquiry and if not I'll reach out to Marisa on Monday
@jzb thank you Joe! π
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