If you've been anywhere near Substack in the last few days, you may have seen mention of the plagiarism scandal currently tearing through the platform. With Substack's #1 New Bestseller being accused of directly lifting the work of another writer (and potentially several others), questions are being raised about the integrity of content in the age of AI – and whether platforms themselves should be doing more to penalise copycats.
Earlier this week, social scientist Katie Jgln wrote a Substack post accusing a user named Maalvika of plagiarising one of her essays in 2024. This week, Maalvika became Substack's top new Bestseller after a new essay on 'compression culture' went viral on the platform.
