Why Substack refuses to censor its writers

Substack is a newsletter publishing platform that has taken a hardline position in favor ot free speech. Lulu Meservey, the VP of Comms at Substack, wrote a viral twitter thread on why her company has a hand-off approach with what writers publish on Substack.👇

Lulu writes that Substack won't deplatform writers or newsletters based on "public pressure or PR considerations." Even if the they "personally dislike or disagree with" a view, they want it to be openly expressed on the platform.

Substack's goal is simple: to build a "thriving ecosystem full of fresh and diverse ideas." This can't happen if they censor views that are experimental or "wrong."

Substack is trying to solve a social problem: mistrust. People already mistrust the government, official institutions, and the media. Lulu writes: "Knowing that dissenting views are being suppressed makes that mistrust worse."

Lulu describes the type of writer attracted to creating content on Substack: " They tend not to be conformists, and they have the confidence and strength of conviction not to be threatened by views that disagree with them or even disgust them."

The ultimate question: "Who should be the arbiter of what’s true and good and right?" Tech executives are as bad at answering this as government bureaucrats. A person's ideas are an intimate part of who they are, and shouldn't be picked out by those who apparently know better.

The only thing you can bet on is that humans will get things wrong. Lulu: "Every generation has beliefs and blind spots that make future generations aghast." What makes us so arrogant to believe that the status quo right now has finally gotten it all correct?

Lulu argues that when platforms remove content and creators not to their taste, they "martyr them." This is a bad strategy. What works better is "examination and mockery."

In a joint statement, the founders of Substack write that they maintain a "high bar" for coming between a writer and her content or her audience. To people who clamor for more active oversight, they point to platforms that have embraced censorship, and ask: "How is it going?"

Bottom line. The dream of the internet was that people will be able to express themselves in an unfettered setting. But power has concentrated on the internet in the hands of a select few companies. Substack promises to forge a new path ahead - and make speech free again.