Plagiarism on Substack

Protecting your work online [#199]

I’ve been gripped by the plagiarism scandal on Substack this week.

If you’re not on Notes, let me bring you up to speed.

On 22 July,

maalvika

published an essay called ‘compression culture is making you stupid and uninteresting’ (on the importance of slowing down and living life). It was trending on Substack and Threads, and she hit #1 New Bestseller here.

She has 32k subscribers (hundreds of paid), 180k followers on TikTok and 63k on Instagram. She’s doing a PhD in Technology and Social Behavior at Northwestern Uni - see her research profile.

Here’s a timeline:

• 28 July -

  Katie Jgln
  published an exposé: ‘Mama, there’s a plagiarist behind you,’ saying Maalvika plagiarised one of her essays in 2024 (it mentions other writers). She reported her profile and the article, which Maalvika took down.

• 29 July - Emily Sundberg published a statement from both women.

• 30 July - Maalvika apologised with an updated version of the article where she cites sources. “This was an isolated incident: one I’ve taken responsibility for and am learning from. It will never happen again.”

• 31 July - Maalvika's apology debunked by Katie.

• 3 Aug - she’s no longer #1 New Bestseller but #2 Rising In Technology! 🤷🏻‍♀️

I didn’t see anything about it last year, but this time, because of the bestseller thing, Katie’s post went viral. It’s had over 4k likes and 561 comments (just read through them all 😵‍💫).

Good to see the support – many people have reported and blocked Maalvika. I tried to report it earlier, but keep getting an error message.

C’mon, Substack – sort it out. We can’t be rewarding and protecting plagiarism. We need the Justice Gang!

Get some detection systems set up (see

Sema Karaman

’s note below) and publish a post about how you’re tackling plagiarism. Be transparent. Silence isn’t an option - we’re all watching this movie play out in real time.

Trust and safety are everything - if you want writers to keep publishing here and helping you grow. As Maalvika said, “I know that trust is something you have to continuously earn; something hard-won and easily lost.”

I also wonder about the impact of this on her PhD if people report it to Northwestern. Katie said she reached out to them when it first happened, but they never got back to her.

Protecting your work online

I use Copyscape Premium - it’s good. I have a magpie brain that stores words and phrases I like - years of copywriting - so it gives me peace of mind that I’m not quoting stuff verbatim without credit.

• Copyscape Premium checks your content is original and searches for copies of your work online.

• Copysentry scans the web daily for copies of your content, emailing you whenever new copies are found.

• They have site banners too (feels a bit OTT for a conversational newsletter, but it’s a deterrent).

• Siteliner checks your site for duplicate content, broken links and more (don’t plagiarise yourself ;-)

• Credit any images and resources to the author, not ‘Pinterest’ or ‘Unsplash’.

• Tell personal stories and take your own pics – much harder to copy!

• Jaskaran
  is fighting plagiarism with this.

It’s an ode to the paywall, isn’t it? Sharing in smaller, intimate communities. Are we going to have to start paywalling everything?

---

I feel a bit depressed and icky after reading all of this - things have been very heated on Notes this week. I’m also aware I’ve been sucked into this saga and scrolling for updates - waiting for Superman (Substack) to save the day.

Something has to be really, really broken for someone who blatantly plagiarises to become a bestseller. Or perhaps nothing’s broken at all, and things are working exactly as they’re meant to. Perhaps this is just another stage in the enshittification process Cory Doctorow warned us about. – Katie Jgln

I don’t want that to happen to Substack.

Katie Jgln

Substack Team

, please keep us updated.

So, in the spirit of pushing back against ‘compression culture,’ I’m going to embrace ‘Euro Laziness’ (taking August off) and unplug for a bit. My focus is family this month. I just want to be outside. Like Superman, I’m powered by the yellow sun.

See you in September.

Nika

Keep rockin’, Iggy. We need you 🖤