Thread by @DoppelMark

1/
#Substack - good for dissenting writing or not really?

i've been reading their ToS & guidelines, thread follows

2/
the hot piece first: Content Guidelines

nebulous "Hate" is banned. even including *calls for exclusion* based on protected characteristics 🤐.

no more Boy Scouts or Lady's Day at the gym 🤡

3/
Content Guidelines, cont.:

>anything that violates laws or regulations

obey Pakistani blasphemy laws? nah, luckily the Publisher Agreement ascertains that's the California, USA, jurisdiction. not bad, but...

>causing harm

in CA that means "criticism of feminists". welp :-(

4/
Copyright Dispute Policy takes typical DMCA-centric view.

reserves right to ban you for *repeated* offenses 👌; provides for *accused* content deletion or lock 🥴

5/
Copyright Dispute Policy allows for typical DMCA counter-notice.

bad news: you'll have to doxx yourself to Substack(!), and they in turn will forward your doxx to the original filler (!!) (the accuser) without verifying who that is.

RIPE FOR ABUSE 💢

6/
Repeat Infringer - banhammer for three *notices* on different pieces of content in a year 🥴

not even cases of infringement, mere *notices*.

RIPE FOR ABUSE 💢

7/
Terms of Service seem to prohibit automated tools like Google, DDG, WaybackMachine etc., from scrapping the website for search or archival 🤡

hello? do you even internet brah? 🥴 @SubstackInc

8/
Publisher Agreement (the main contract)

proscribes taking payments in parallel through Patreon etc., *and* Substack at the same time.

i can see a lot of *sense* in that, just be aware of it.

9/
Publisher Agreement, contd.:

if you take payments, you agree to self-doxx to Substack upon request 👎.

probably KYC/AML. annoying stuff. i'm very close to saying, "just don't conduct business with US/EU institutions, or you deserve whatever you get from them".

10/
Publisher Agreement, contd.:

reserves the right to terminate your account for any reason or no reason at all. probably the worst part of it, but since it's bog-standard on the internet, i'm just giving it a clown-world reaction 🤡🌍

11/
Publisher Agreement, contd.:

mandatory binding arbitration in California. idk, didn't Patreon get screwed over with that recently? not my problem anyway.

12/
summary:

Substack has major vulnerability to "legal" attack through DMCA abuse: both privacy violation (doxx) and content takedown/automatic ban 👎👎.

Substack also wants your private data (doxx) if you use paid subscription 👎👎.

13/
my view:

i was interested in @SubstackInc for blogging, but having checked out the ToS & related documents, i'm quite wary of privacy implications and the ease with which a "legal" take-down of all my posting can be mounted. 🥴

will consult friends and think it through.