Dear Readers,
In this first newsletter of 2024, I am reflecting on the question often asked of me by friends, family and many of you who take the time to read and respond each week. How do I find the time to write this weekly newsletter and who pays me to do it?
I take the time to write every week not because it’s a source of income — it isn’t. I'm not publishing on any of the paid subscription platforms; I do it because I want to share information and ideas, elevate the work of others, and hopefully inspire you from time to time. That’s my “pay.”
As a reader, however, I do pay to subscribe to various newsletters by other people who publish on a platform called Substack, but I’m considering canceling my subscriptions — in part, for the same reason I left Twitter after Elon Musk took over as owner. I couldn’t support his policies about content he allowed on the platform.
I realize that my decision to leave Twitter or X didn't change Musk’s content policies, but combined with so many advertisers choosing to leave the platform in recent months because of his words and actions, cancellations of users are having an impact. The Guardian reports that “X has lost 71% of its value since it was bought by Elon Musk, according to the mutual fund Fidelity.”
In the same way, I know that if I cancel my Substack subscriptions, the action isn't likely to change its policies or impact its revenue, but it is a form of protest against the kinds of content being allowed on the platform — content that is, in my opinion, dangerous! Specifically, I’m talking about the revelations that Substack hosts and profits from multiple neo-Nazi newsletters and content from other extremist organizations that, in my opinion and the opinion of others, including other writers who post on Substack, threaten the lives and security of individuals and communities.
One such writer is a good friend, Amanda Hirsch, whose Mighty Forces Express newsletter is one of my favorite Substack subscriptions.
Here’s what she wrote about the situation:
“It’s come to my attention that this website that I use to send my newsletter — called Substack — is allowing literal Nazis to earn an income by publishing their hate speech here, despite the company’s policy banning hate speech. When I first heard about this, I was disgusted, but I’ll admit that I was unsure what I wanted to do about it. After all, sick though it may be, Nazis are everywhere online, and if we only published on or communicated through platforms run by ethical people and companies, we wouldn’t publish or communicate. Isn’t it better to flood said platforms with constructive voices than cede them to destructive ones?
But when a group of Substack account holders wrote a public letter holding the company to account, Substack’s response was, in a word, unacceptable. Here’s what co-founder Hamish MacKenzie said:
“I just want to make it clear that we don’t like Nazis either — we wish no-one held those views. But some people do hold those and other extreme views. Given that, we don’t think that censorship (including through demonetizing publications) makes the problem go away — in fact, it makes it worse.”
“Some people do hold those and other extreme views” is an inadequate characterization of the desire to erase entire populations of people from the face of the earth. …
For me, the bottom line is that MacKenzie’s response offends me, and I cannot continue to earn money from a platform that characterizes Naziism as a difference of opinion. ”
I agree with Amanda, but we also know that finding a perfectly ethical place to publish is difficult. I hope Amanda continues to write and publish and I also want to continue to support my other friends who distribute their newsletters on the Substack platform.
But like Amanda and many others, I’m not comfortable with feeling there is nothing I can do to express my concerns. I think of my media choices a lot like I think of voting. Although my single vote likely won’t determine an election, I know it matters. In the same way, choosing to leave a platform is a protest vote, and the action does get noticed by the owners, the investors, the advertisers and legislators. Elevating the problem in this way encourages those with the power to fix it to take action, by regulating or legislating protections to ensure the positive and truly democratic potential of the Internet.
Quoting again from Amanda Hirsch’s Mighty Forces Express:
“…Biased algorithms, trolls, and other dangers pose a threat to the internet’s true democratic potential, but we don’t need to just take it lying down. …We can work to solve the necessary technical challenges, and we can devote ourselves to getting more diverse people into tech leadership and creation and governance. We can be the change.”
Yes, we can all be more responsible content producers as well as more responsible content consumers because what we write and post, and where we consume that content matters — a lot!
Kudos to Amanda Hirsch for speaking up and taking action… and here's a link to her Mighty Forces newsletter where you can read more inspiring stories.
In the New Year, I’m encouraging all of us to be more thoughtful and proactive in all our media choices, believing as I do in the power of media to be a force for good…or evil…and wanting my choices as a content maker and consumer to contribute to the most positive potential impact of a global media ecosystem that is changing rapidly and without regulation and in some cases, ethical leadership.
We have a voice in media matters. Let’s use it.
Onward!
- Pat
Social photo credit: Omkar Patyane, Pexels
