Navigating Free Speech and Engagement on Substack

"If you're a consistent advocate for freedom of the press, you will unfortunately have occasion to quarrel with every party and every side of the political spectrum," says Substack CEO Chris Best.

As one of the most important platforms for independent writing online, and one of the only ones not reliant on advertising, Substack has sometimes attracted controversy for its content moderation policies. Today on Revolution.Social, Chris and Rabble talk about the "Nazi bar" problem, the democratization of writing, and the future of free speech. They also discuss the competing business models of the creator economy, why platforms like Elon Musk's X suppress external links, and the purpose of media in the age of AI.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

03:37 The Origin Story of Substack

10:32 Internet Protocols & Spam Filters

13:18 Building a Platform With the Right Incentives

22:47 The Subscription Model vs. Micropayments

26:43 Expanding Beyond Newsletters

32:57 Freedom to Exit

35:33 The Future of Media and AI

40:19 Algorithmic Transparency

42:03 Free Speech and Democratization

46:19 Disinformation & Takedowns

49:39 Who Else Should Be on the Podcast?

52:10 The "Nazi Bar"

54:51 Outro

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This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm, and executive produced by Alice Chan from Flock Marketing.

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