Substack’s “Nazi problem” won’t go away after push notification apology

Moxon has switched to Ghost for his independent blog, The Reframe, an open source Substack alternative that woos users by migrating accounts for users and ditching Substack’s fees, which take a 10 percent cut of each Substacker’s transactions. That means users can easily switch platforms and make more money on Ghost, if they can attract as broad an audience as they got on Substack.

However, some users feel that Substack’s design, which can help more users discover their content, is the key reason they can’t switch, and Ghost acknowledges this.

“Getting traffic to an independent website can be challenging, of course,” Ghost’s website said. “But the rewards are that you physically own the content and you’re benefitting your own brand and business.”

But Gillian Brockell, a former Washington Post staff writer, attested on Bluesky that her subscriber rate is up since switching to Ghost. Perhaps that’s because the hype that Substack heightens engagement isn’t real for everyone, but Brockell raised another theory: “Maybe because I’m less ashamed to share it? Maybe because more and more people refuse to subscribe to Substack? I dunno, but I’m happier.”

Another former Substack user, comics writer Grek Pak, posted on Bluesky that Buttondown served his newsletter needs. That platform charges lower fees than Substack and counters claims that Substack’s “network effects” work by pointing to “evidence” that Substack “readers tend to be less engaged and pay you less.”

Fisher-Birch suggested that Substack’s biggest rivals—which include Ghost and Buttondown, as well as Patreon, Medium, BeeHiiv, and even old-school platforms like Tumblr—could benefit if the backlash over the push notification forces more popular content creators to ditch Substack.

“Many people do not want to use a platform that does not remove content promoting neo-Nazism, and several creators have moved to other platforms,” Fisher-Birch said.

Imani Gandy, a journalist and lawyer behind a popular online account called “Angry Black Lady,” suggested on Bluesky that “Substack is not sustainable from a business perspective—and that’s before you get to the fact that they are now pushing Nazi content onto people’s phones. You either move now or move in shame later. Those are the two options really.”