This isn’t new news as such, but people keep being surprised by it, so it’s worth repeating. Substack hosts, profits from, and promotes explicitly Nazi content, and if you are adding value to that network, you are helping them to do so. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/07/revealed-how-substack-makes-money-from-hosting-nazi-newsletters
Discussion
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@ben Oh it’s very well documented. I’ve catalog most of them here, but I’ve got many more to add https://sightlessscribbles.com/posts/20250425/
@ben This is the main reason why I don't pay for more subscriptions to Journalists that I want to support! They're on Substack. @MikeElgan is one of them. If he moved from Substack to Ghost, Beehiiv, I'd sub right away.
Hear that Mike! 😃
@ben I wonder what @MikeElgan thinks. He's still so bullish on Substack.
@ben
And even worse, it seems that my email address as I was subscribed to a feed there was given out to someone else on Substack who subscribed me to theirs, unashamedly admitting that this was how they got hold of me. I didn't know t this was a thing.
I was following Mike Elgin, Julia Doubleday, Eric Topol, Nate Bear, @erictopol etc.
Why are they on there?
The word is used so much it literally has no meaning, no one gives a fuck and if you don't like it, don't read it or pay for it. In 2024 Substack claimed to have banned 5 "Nazi" blogs (whatever the fuck that means) but they didn't mention which ones and I can't find any actual information on it, so it might have been a fake PR-stunt. I would like to know what those sites actually were and see the archives to decide for myself.
But I decided from that point I would never pay for something on Substack because they either censored some sites or created a fake censorship story as some PR stunt. Both are stupid.
But personally, I want to read the books everyone else wants to burn.
@djsumdog @ben I followed that.
Some people were publicly upset that "terfs" were "platformed" on Substack. Then lo and behold shortly after, rumors started screaming about "Nazis".
Substack took it seriously, and did an investigation and found 5 accounts with no subscribers which were white supremacist.
I took note of which accounts signed the petition to investigate the Nazis, and unsubscribed from their stacks (I'm only a free subscriber anyway). I don't need to read the gullible.
@LostInCalifornia @djsumdog @ben
there's a nuance here both sides avoid. ultimately it's about decentralization.
if you're letting other people on your infrastructure, there's a level of support there. it gets worse when you run an algo, make recommendations or facilitate payments. that's true for Substack and mastodon dot social.
the difference is whether the network allows equal participation from other possible hosts (Substack no). the norm should be to federate unless there's harassment.
@wjmaggos @djsumdog @ben I'm not an absolutist, for a reason.
If something has to be "everything or nothing", you usually end up with nothing as you try for everything.
If, for example, a platform claims to platform everyone, and Nazis take advantage, people who boycott Nazis boycott it. And since most of the world really hates Nazis, most of the world boycotts it, and the platform goes belly up.
The other reason is that in the virtual world, one person with a botnet can pretend to be more influential than they are and drown out opposing voices. Witness what happens on X.
@LostInCalifornia @djsumdog @ben
yea I don't think you can platform everyone. but you can network everyone. that's what the web does. and if you do good moderation, including defederating when other servers allow harassers and botnets to bother users on other servers, I think the whole thing can work damn well.
@ben 💯 especially for activists, organizers, and people who want liberatory change.
You aren’t starting a Revolution on Substack.
You’re funding Nazis just by being in the platform.
https://www.rootschangemedia.com/substack-breaking-platformization-sharon/
@ben I have wondered if people were being a little overdramatic about this. I will wonder no more. They aren't.
Sorry, great people on substack. I will never subscribe to your newsletter as long as you use that service.
For people who want alternatives, Ghost is a Substack-style platform that doesn't host Nazis. Its software is free open source so you can self-host if you prefer, or use Ghost's own paid hosting service.
Ghost also has Fediverse compatibility so people can follow your Ghost blog or newsletter directly from Mastodon etc. More info at https://fedi.tips/ghost-blogs-and-newsletters-on-the-fediverse/
@FediThing @tchambers @ben Ghost has still serious #accessibility issues. So, I have another alternative @buttondown which is not decentralized. But currently I'm even trying the email subscription of @writefreely - which can be self-hosted. Then, depends on how "sophisticated" needs users have.
@elettrona @FediThing @tchambers @ben @buttondown @writefreely
Those are both registered in the US though, while Ghost's non-profit is registered in Singapore.
@kerfuffle @FediThing @tchambers @ben @buttondown @writefreely yes I know - ButtonDown is in the US. And centralized. That's why I'm going to try alternatives. I can't use ghost (tried to self-host it with no accessibility result) and now I'm self-hosting writefreely, while I'll try email subscriptions
@FediThing the self hosted version still needs a mailgun account, which is far from free (costlier than hosting) 😢
@FediThing @ben WordPress is much easier, and there are thousands of people who can help you with it, plus thousands of themes.
@FediThing @ben ghost isn’t free as far as I see?
It's free open source software (i.e. anyone can install, edit and release their own version) and the software itself is free of charge.
But you still have to pay the costs of hosting, either on Ghost.org or on your own server if you're self-hosting.
@miekeroth @ben @FediThing you also have to pay for mail delivery as you can only do that via Mailgun (even if you self host), who charge if you want to send more that 100 emails a day.
I have about 500 subscribers to my (free) blog so that's a problem.
There is also Beehive which is free up to 2500 subscribers and that's with them hosting, so I may move to them.
@FediThing @miekeroth @ben
As I always note when this comes up, @JuliusGoat made the switch to ghost from substack and wrote about it here
@FediThing ah, ok. That isn’t clear on the website. Makes sense. @ben
Ah sorry, I should have phrased it a bit better in my post too. I've edited it to make it clearer.
@FediThing @ben I think I tried it on unohost. setting it up is a bit of a strugle, it seems worth it however.