Do I stay or do I go?
Ethics of the platforms we use
This was going to be a note and now it’s turned into a post.
Whilst I’ve been ruminating on all of this for months (perhaps longer), this post is not thought out well and doubtless articulated even less well, but it’s thoughts I want to get out of my head and onto ‘paper’.
My X/twitter/Musk account went ages ago, that was an easy decision, not just because Musk is a gigantic **** (enter your own 4 letter expletive here, you can probably guess mine) but also I had literally no skin in the game. No following, barely posted.
Meta is TRICKSY. I’ve been questioning it again after Zuckerberg’s cowing to Trump and his fact checking announcements.
LinkedIn remains pretty solid.
Substack, however, has an alt-right, neo-nazi problem.
Earlier this morning I saw an excellent post from Emily Explains on Instagram about boycotting Meta and why she’s not doing it.
If I were to boycott Meta it would only impact me and not in a good way. Like LinkedIn it’s a place people get to know like & trust me enough to pay for my services as a Tech VA / email marketer. It helps me earn a living.
Meta would lose nothing.
I would lose a community of people I’ve spent 5 years building.
And if I were to boycott Substack, I’d lose the place that has encouraged me to write and wildly increased my confidence and belief that some people - you - are actually interested in what I have to say.
I’d lose a phenomenally supportive writing community.
Substack would lose about $12 a year
So what do I do now?
For now I stay, but I’m turning off paid subscriptions - I only have two anyway!
Then as I opened up Substack on my laptop to get this post finalised I saw a note from who has just ditched Spotify because turns out they’re evil too.
For bollocks sake.
I mainly use Spotify for background ambient noise like this from Deep Sleep Sounds: Cozy Bookstore Ambience and if I’m being honest, that’s probably not enough of a reason to stay with a shitty platform that doesn’t treat creators ethically. Evidently Bandcamp is a good alternative, but for the ambient background noises I’ll probably go direct or to YouTube.
If you want to learn more about Spotify, check this post out from :
And so that’s where I am. Meta stays, Substack stays but only for free and Spotify probably goes.
What are your thoughts?
Hannah 🧡
I feel your pain. I’ve not been able to engage with social media recently as I am having problems with trolling but it’s actually been rather nice to just spend time in the real world or just reading, walking. I’ve been wondering whether it’s all just too much anyway and what sm actually gives me. The only one I’d miss is Substack but I’ve not been able to post for ages anyway for fear of attack so what’s the point? Why do I continue to give my time and data to platforms that are run in a way I disagree with and which give me such grief? I suppose the honest answer is that connection with writers like you and others is such a pleasure. If there was a way to just write and connect authentically without the huge data collecting machine I’d seize it.
Hi Hannah. I would love your take and reasoning on this, “Substack, however, has an alt-right, neo-nazi problem.”
Really? I came to Substack for a chance to read some intelligent writing, see art being created and to read. I have started writing as a result and find it quite liberating. I am not here to make $ nor am I here to hook up with the dozen guys who request this of me everyday! Delete! Delete!
I look forward the reading what you write. ✍️