Will Hopkins

Links and essays


Don't use Substack

From the official Substack Substack:

Mark Zuckerberg recently announced favorable changes in policy for Meta that should result in freer expression on its platforms. His stated reasons were a change in public sentiment and a new administration, reflecting a real change in the culture. Those who welcome the press freedom changes at Meta owe a debt to those who took a principled stand when the wind was blowing the other way.

This is the most asinine take imaginable. Substack's leadership says they looked at Meta's policies allowing users to like women to household objects and specifically target 2SLGBTQIA+ and thought "Wow, now that's freedom of the press."

That would be bad enough, because of how wrong it is. But it's actually worse than that. They aren't just happy in the abstract, they're happy that people can be more openly abusive to women and queer people. That's a feature, not a bug.

Substack opens the piece with "Principles have a price." To which I say, yes, and using Substack shows you've sold yours.

Via Kottke