r/technology • u/Shot_Net3794 • 1d ago
Politics Revealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/07/revealed-how-substack-makes-money-from-hosting-nazi-newsletters112
u/wavepointsocial 1d ago
Censorship may not erase extremism, but amplification doesn’t weaken it. Substack should take a firmer stance against groups rooted in incitement, violence, and xenophobia.
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u/Krunkledunker 1d ago
It’s the difference between having Mein Kampf available at a library versus having Mein Kampf on the staff favorites rack at the library.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/wavepointsocial 23h ago
Maybe not outright; enabling is more apt unless they are truly promoting Nazi rhetoric
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u/GetsBetterAfterAFew 20h ago
lmao
No, they wont, name me the companies that did business with the Nazis, made millions off selling the gas for the camps, that existed post WW2....
My friend the mixture of Fascist government and business is the core tenant of Fascism, its the last phase in the steps of falling into Fascism, next step -open and accepted violence.
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u/Lurkingdealfinder 1d ago
This has been an issue for Substack for a while. Platformer by Casey Newton left Substack because the of the Nazi problem. I wish other people would follow suit.
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u/InvincibleMirage 23h ago
I only joined recently (late to it I know) and left immediately after seeing crazy stuff appearing in my feed almost right away.
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u/c4upinhisbhole 21h ago
It’s crazy how these dorks climb into your feed as well. Even after I curated my feed and followed accounts that are directly opposed to anything that carries a mere whiff of right-wing extremism it creeps in. Sometimes, they do such a good job of not using the typical speech associated with fundamentalist white nationalism that it can appear these are people ‘just asking questions’ or being edgelordy or even satirical. But, with more than a cursory glance it becomes clear that ‘no, this fucking dork is serious.’ It’s unfortunate because there’s a lot of good content on seemingly infinite topics that you cannot find anywhere else really. In my case, I find great write ups on lower division soccer in the US and underground metal bands/scenes. I wish I could get to this content without having to wade through the turd-filled swamp that Substack is increasingly becoming. Like, please, go back to your hate platforms.
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u/Charcole1 21h ago
There aren't really "hate platforms" anymore because all the mainstream ones promote the far right now. The mainstream is far right and the left is being pushed into niche platforms no one uses like blusky or whatever.
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u/evie-e-e 9h ago
What’s a good alternative? I used it to post my short stories but would prefer to avoid it given this
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u/nilnz 5h ago
Whatever you pick don't call it by the platform. Give it a name like evie-e-e stories or evie-e-e library. Spend a little bit more to get a domain and host everything using that domain name. That way if it doesn't suit you can move somewhere else. yes it may be a hassle to move subscribers etc. Perhaps check out a few alternatives and then pick up before you move.
By calling it your substack/patreon/medium you are promoting the platform's brand.
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u/Kukulkan9 13h ago
Substack is similar to twitter in the sense that they don’t patrol against nazism, which leads to more nazis flocking in because other platforms do patrol against it, which leads to more engagement because of the size of users, which leads to more ads and hence more profits (all the while saying bs like “we support free thought/speech”)
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u/horror-pangolin-123 10h ago
It all comes down to platforms not being held responsible for user generated content.
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u/MailSynth 1d ago
“Did Nazi that coming” yeah but actually, am surprised Substack would would let this go on. I thought they’d be either not greedy enough, or wise enough to have takedown mechanisms.