Substackers Against Nazis

Sharing, in full, an open letter shared by The Handbasket this week regarding Substack’s platforming of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers. Substack’s terms of service explicitly prohibit “content or fund initiatives that incite violence based on protected classes. Offending behavior includes credible threats of physical harm to people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or medical condition.” You know, Nazi stuff. Substack has claimed it is prioritizing “free speech,” and I certainly support free speech. But— leaving aside the fact that “free speech” generally means freedom from government censorship of speech, not freedom to say anything you want in any medium— as Karl Popper pointed out long ago¹, tolerating groups that ultimately threaten free speech (you know, like Nazis), is not actually a good way to support free speech. (See also: groups like M4L demanding their “right” to censor books for kids who aren’t…