🚨 Investigation: The Silent Takedown of Investigative Journalism 🚨

Imagine waking up to find every piece of your investigative work—your research, your archives, your painstaking documentation—erased. No warning. No explanation. No opportunity to respond.

This isn’t fiction. It’s exactly what happened to me.

Substack, a platform built on the promise of protecting independent writers, didn’t just remove a single post. They wiped out everything. Every article, every subscriber, every investigative thread I’d written under Neutralizing Narcissism, Simply WE, and The Empathic Technologist.

And when I asked why?—they didn’t respond.

They just erased me.

But here’s where the story takes a dark turn. Because when I pushed back, when I started asking questions publicly, Substack changed their reason for banning me.

At first, they cited “spam” and “phishing.”

Then, they pivoted. Suddenly, I was banned for “advertising” and “search engine optimization.”

📌 So which is it, Substack?

📌 Were my investigative reports “spam”? Or were they too powerful to ignore?

📌 Was I “advertising”? Or was I uncovering something inconvenient?

This isn’t a simple mistake.

This is gaslighting.

Something my Neutralizing Narcissism platform takes very seriously.

This is a textbook case of a platform being manipulated into silence—not by truth, but by bad-faith actors gaming the system.

Because this wasn’t just a moderation decision. This was the result of a coordinated attack by someone who publicly bragged about getting my accounts taken down.

Meet Joel Johnson: The Man Who Weaponized Substack’s Moderation

Joel Johnson didn’t just report me. He announced his attack in advance.

📌 February 16, 2025: Joel publicly stated he was working to deplatform me.

📌 February 18, 2025: He bragged about getting Linktree to take action.

📌 February 19, 2025: He confirmed he was “in this for the long haul.”

📌 February 28, 2025: My Substack was wiped from existence.

📌 March 4, 2025: Substack changed its justification for banning me.

This wasn’t moderation. This was a hit job.

Joel manipulated Substack’s reporting system to silence my work. And instead of investigating, Substack blindly followed his lead.

This is how digital deplatforming works.

Not through fair enforcement.

Not through due process.

But through abuse of moderation systems.

And if it happened to me, it can happen to anyone.

Substack’s Hypocrisy: The Chris Best Paradox

Chris Best, the CEO of Substack, has spent years championing free speech.

📌 Substack Defender exists to protect journalists from deplatforming.

📌 Substack claims to stand against censorship through legal threats.

📌 Chris Best himself said Substack would "forcefully oppose" intimidation tactics.

Yet here we are.

📌 No warning. No evidence. No due process.

📌 No ability to appeal. Just a sudden, silent deletion.

Chris Best, where is Substack’s commitment to free expression now?

Gaslighting, Censorship, and the Future of Truth

If Substack’s real reason for banning me was “advertising,” why didn’t they say that in the first place?

If this wasn’t a coordinated takedown, why did their justification change only after I went public?

If Substack is truly defending journalists, why are they enabling bad actors like Joel Johnson to weaponize their platform?

💡 This isn’t just my fight. This is a warning for every independent journalist, every investigator, every person exposing uncomfortable truths.

If platforms let bad-faith actors dictate who gets erased, investigative journalism is no longer safe.

The Blockchain Escape: Why I Moved My Work to Mirror and Paragraph

Substack erased my words.

Substack rewrote history.

Substack tried to silence me.

But they can’t erase the truth.

🔗 Now, my archives live on the blockchain.

🔗 Now, my investigative work is untouchable.

🔗 Now, my words are permanently stored—where no bad actor, no platform, no corporation can silence them.

🚨 If you care about free press, share this story. 🚨

📢 Chris Best, Substack is not demonstrating your values.

🚨 Substack, this is your chance to prove your commitment to free speech. Will you stand by your words—or let abusers weaponize your system unchecked?

📢 Will you stand by your principles—or expose your hypocrisy?

🔗 Read the full breakdown here: [Mirror Link]

🔁 RT if you stand for press freedom.

📣 Share this article to expose the truth.

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Mark Randall Havens | Investigative Journalist & The Empathic Technologist