The CEBV Weekly is moving!
We’ve got big news: In the next few weeks, this publication will leave Substack and migrate to a new home powered by the nonprofit, open-source publishing platform Ghost.
Why is CEBV moving?
For a couple of years, we’ve had significant concerns about Substack, driven by a growing body of evidence that they platform hate speech for profit. In a nutshell, Substack has made a calculated decision to platform alt-right and extremist voices, explaining it away as a “hands-off approach to content moderation.” That decision has allowed extremists to use the platform to earn significant revenue. This means Substack has been not only subsidizing and promoting bigotry, but directly profiting from it. We’ve long been aware that our remaining on Substack was a tacit endorsement of this behavior, but we lacked the bandwidth and resources to investigate better options to the platform.
Then, in July 2025, venture capitalists and private equity poured $100 million into Substack. While the company lauded these investments as exciting for the company’s growth, much of the money came from right-wing billionaires. This carries disturbing implications for free speech and the integrity of journalistic voices. As author Shari Dunn points out, these billionaires “have used their platforms and influence to espouse regressive, even harmful views, particularly around immigration, diversity, and affirmative action.”
Just two weeks later, Substack sent a push alert to subscribers that promoted one of the pro-Nazi blogs on its network (with literal swastikas). Anyone who clicked on the newsletter’s profile was then fed recommendations for even more white nationalist publications on Substack. Substack executives apologized, but that rang hollow to us, as they also refused to change their content moderation policy. We found ourselves agreeing wholeheartedly with The Platformer, which succinctly stated as it left Substack: “We’ve seen this movie before — and we won’t stick around to watch it play out.”
What does this mean for subscribers?
If you are a free or paid subscriber, you don’t need to do a thing! The email version of the CEBV Weekly will arrive regularly as usual in your email box. The most significant change for readers will be that you will no longer be able to read the CEBV Weekly in the Substack platform or app.
If you are a paid subscriber, we are working hard to make payment transfers seamless as well. Remember, CEBV relies on donations, and paid subscribers to the CEBV Weekly represent a significant part of our annual budget. If you notice that you are no longer being charged for your subscription, we would greatly appreciate an email to info@cebv.us.
We will continue to offer the CEBV Weekly as a free resource. All subscribers will receive a weekly email throughout the entire Arizona legislative session with summaries of notable bills, Melinda’s analysis of the political landscape in Arizona, and actions you can take to help create positive change. We also have exciting plans to expand our content with news, analysis, events alerts and editorials, as well as new goodies for paid subscribers. All the details will be included in our next email — stay tuned!
New to the CEBV Weekly? Head over to our new home and subscribe there so you don’t miss any updates!
