Casey Newton, a technology journalist and founder of Platformer, is leaving Substack over its failure to moderate Nazi and pro-Holocaust content, reports Taylor Lorenz and Will Oremus of The Washington Post.
Lorenz and Oremus write, “Newton’s announcement comes days after Substack said it would ban five Nazi-affiliated accounts that it had found in violation of its policy against incitement to violence against specific minority groups. While some Substack writers cheered the move, others told The Washington Post they found it inadequate, given that it left in place much larger and more influential extremist accounts.
“‘While I broadly share Substack’s support of free speech values, I also believe that platforms that build viral recommendation engines have a duty to act responsibly,’ said Newton. ‘Among other things, that means proactively removing pro-Nazi content and taking steps to ensure that the company is not funding and accelerating the growth of extremist movements. But Substack doesn’t see it that way, and so we can no longer stay in good conscience.'”
Read more here.
