A media-platform with character! Substack’s convictions reveal the low character of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more of the cry-baby censorship cult.
Substack, the subscription newsletter service popular among independent journalists and writers, is doubling down on its principle of free expression as critics call for the platform to censor vaccine skeptics.
“At Substack, we don’t make moderation decisions based on public pressure or PR considerations,” Substack Vice President of Communication Lulu Cheng Meservey began a lengthy Twitter thread on Wednesday. “An important principle for us is defending free expression, even for stuff we personally dislike or disagree with. We understand principles come at a cost.”
Substack co-founders Hamish McKenzie, Chris Best and Jairaj co-authored a piece saying “society has a trust problem” and that censorship would only create more distrust.
“While we have content guidelines that allow us to protect the platform at the extremes, we will always view censorship as a last resort, because we believe open discourse is better for writers and better for society,” the Substack co-founders wrote. ‘We are living through an epidemic of mistrust, particularly here in the United States. Trust in social media and traditional media is at an all-time low. Trust in the U.S. federal government to handle problems is at a near-record low. Trust in the U.S.’s major institutions is within 2 percentage points of the all-time low. The consequences are profound.”
