Reddit, touting itself as "the front page of the internet," is a massive cache of different interests and proclivities, divided into definitive channels where people can converse, argue, and, as most echo chamber-like forums go, espouse actions that may be dangerous, further perpetuating mindshare. This is what happened recently.
Reddit Drops The Ban Hammer
Reddit has now blocked two prominent alt-right subreddits — a term for individual communities within the site — over violations of doxxing, or publishing personal information publicly as a malicious effort.
Both r/altright and r/AlternativeRight have been shut down from the site Wednesday, Feb. 1 after a user intentionally published information about the individual believed to have punched right-wing extremist Richard Spencer. The act violated Reddit's policy against "the proliferation of personal and confidential information," The Next Web reports.
"We have banned r/altright due to repeated violations of the terms of our content policy. There is no single solution to these issues and we are actively engaging with the Reddit community to improve everyone's experience," Reddit said in a statement.
What Is Alt-Right?
The altright subreddit is part of the self-described alt-right, a conservative movement with ties to white supremacy. Reddit user LetThereBeWhite, an r/altright moderator, once posted an introductory brief for new subscribers of the subreddit:
"[T]he Alt Right is a racial movement and has always been a racial movement ... The mainstream media was not lying to you when they said we are full of white nationalists, racial realists, and fascists."
Some users of the subreddit have been engaged in recent efforts to dox the individual who punched Spencer in the face. Another commenter who discussed the banning in a separate thread said that the subreddit was doxxing people "who called for 'violence' on the altright."
Reddit is no stranger to banning subreddits, having done so in the past when subreddits became plagued with hate speeches, illegal content, or dissemination of personal or sensitive information. This past November it committed to penalizing "most toxic users," characters which became all too prevalent in light of a polarizing election period.
Reddit Founder's Views On Recent Immgration Ban
Alexis Ohanian, Reddit's founder, posted an open letter to the Reddit community recently, calling Trump's immigration ban "not only potentially unconstitutional, but deeply un-American." In response, some redditors barked at Ohanian to back up his words about tolerance by virtue of knocking down neo-Nazi and racism-espousing subreddits. Given the country's arguably turbid political climate, this could be a prime opportunity for Reddit to improve to flip its reputation around.
It looks as if there's very little chance for the banned subreddits to resurface again given their very controversial movement. As it stands, Reddit may be more than glad to clamp them down. The site is still trying to perfect a balancing act, holding free speech in one hand, and sandblasting hostility off its own forums with the other.
The International Business Times reported earlier Wednesday that the subreddit's subscribers grew 37 percent from last month to just more than 16,000 from 11,700. It's unclear if the ban will have an effect on the alt-right movement; they'll likely set up another communications channel given the shutdown. The community has moved to a Reddit-like alternative, Voat, post-ban, where discussions about the shutdown resume.
