Reddit bans 2,000 subreddits, including The_Donald and Chapo Trap House

Posted on 2020-06-29 by pappp

Source: The Week: Most Recent Home Page Posts

Article note: I mean, I'm not sad see to see those clusters of assholes get discouraged, and at least they applied it in a nominally cross-spectrum way. But still, all communities are defined by an in-group/out-group antagonism, so now we enter the era of infinite, slippery arguments about what counts as "hate speech" and what counts as "community norms." Ed: Oh fuck, I read the rules, it's a little dumber than I expected. "Marginalized or vulnerable groups include, but are not limited to, groups based on their actual and perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or disability. These include victims of a major violent event and their families. ... While the rule on hate protects such groups, it does not protect all groups or all forms of identity. For example, the rule does not protect groups of people who are in the majority or who promote such attacks of hate." Read that rule carefully and note that it would, for example, not apply against minority apartheid activists. "Punching Up" has always been and continues to be a synonym for "Hurting the right people" for a different audience.

Reddit has banned about 2,000 forums, including the pro-Trump section, The_Donald.

Reddit announced on Monday it was banning a large number of subreddits, most of which it says are inactive, as part of a crackdown against hate speech, The New York Times reports. Among them was The_Donald, the board for supporters of President Trump that had almost 800,000 users. Trump has in the past tweeted memes that were first posted there.

"Reddit is a place for community and belonging, not for attacking people," Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said, per the Times. "The_Donald has been in violation of that."

A post to Reddit's announcement subreddit laid out the site's new content policy, saying that "communities and users that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned." As far as The_Donald goes, the announcement said it has "consistently hosted and upvoted more rule-breaking content than average," as well as "antagonized us and other communities," and "its mods have refused to meet our most basic expectations."

Another popular community to be banned was the group for listeners of the leftist podcast Chapo Trap House. Users who visit the page are now met with a message saying the group was "banned for violating Reddit's rule against promoting hate."

Reddit's former CEO, Ellen Pao, previously said the site should ban the pro-Trump forum. "You should have shut down The_Donald instead of amplifying it and its hate, racism, and violence," Pao wrote earlier this month in a tweet directed at Huffman. "So much of what is happening now lies at your feet."

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