Ep. 166 Substack, a platform for free speech?

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

Substack — the popular newsletter and publishing service — has made a name for itself by swimming against the current: As many technology companies devise new ways to censor or moderate content on their platforms, Substack made free speech one of its core values and, in doing so, has attracted bloggers and journalists from across the political spectrum.

“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,” proclaimed Substack’s founders.

Lulu Cheng Meservey is Vice President of Communications for Substack. She went viral earlier this year when she tweeted about why free expression is an important principle for Substack. She joins us this week to discuss Substack, free speech, and the new media ecosystem.

Show notes:

• Transcript
• Lulu’s viral tweet thread
• “Society has a trust problem. More censorship will only make it worse.” by Hamish McKenzie, Chris Best, and Jairaj Sethi
• Substack’s “Content Guidelines”
• Substackers mentioned: Andrew Sullivan, Casey Newton, The Fifth Column, Patti Smith, George Saunders, Salman Rushdie, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Freddie deBoer, Nikita Petrov,
• Blocked and Reported
• John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty”

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