100 Reddit communities have been banned
More than 100 Reddit communities have banned users from posting links to X in protest at owner Elon Musk’s controversial arm gesture at a rally celebrating Donald Trump’s return to office.
The billionaire twice extended his arm out straight as he thanked the crowd for “making it happen.”
Critics, including some historians, said it was a Nazi salute – Mr Musk has dismissed that, saying comparisons with Hitler were “tired” and “dirty tricks.”
However, many Reddit users have been unpersuaded by his response, which described his actions as “hateful.” This has led the moderators of scores of communities—or subreddits—to stop sharing content on X.
X has not commented, but Reddit has stressed that there is no sitewide ban on X links. In a statement, it told the BBC that it “has a longstanding commitment to freedom of speech and association.”
However, the platform relies heavily on community moderation. Unpaid individuals known as Redditors decide what can and cannot be published on their corner of the website.
In many instances, those Redditors have reached a different conclusion, deciding Mr Musk’s actions were so offensive that they won’t link to content from their subreddits on X, potentially reducing traffic, engagement and – ultimately – revenue.
The biggest subreddits to have enforced the ban include basketball community r/NBA, which has 15 million members, female-focused community r/TwoXChromosomes, which has 14 million members, and American football community r/NFL, which has 12 million members.
It is worth remembering that fans almost always run subreddits – it does not mean that the NFL or NBA organisations are taking a stance against Musk.
At least 100 subreddits have banned X posts.
The BBC has independently verified that at least 100 subreddits have banned X posts.
Of this number, more than 60 have at least 100,000 members.
But the actual number that has instituted the ban will likely be significantly higher by taking into account smaller subreddits with only a few thousand members.
And many more communities are discussing a potential blacklisting.
The subreddits run by fans of football clubs Liverpool, Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur have all instituted the bans, as have communities for many US sports sides as well as Formula 1.
The subreddits where residents of many cities and countries gather around the world – ranging from New Jersey to South Korea – have also blocked posts to X.
Gamers are also among those to bring in the ban for video games including Baldur’s Gate 3 and World of Warcraft.
But while the blacklisting may have first started in some of these communities, it is popping up in a variety of places now where people gather to discuss all sorts of topics, ranging from RuPaul’s Drag Race to Disneyland and even the military.
Most are in favour of it
While the vast majority of subreddits discussing a ban are in favour of it, some have refused.
The moderators of the Maine community for example say they won’t institute a ban so long as “the state maintains official accounts there”.
And those running a group for people in British Columbia said they simply aren’t “doing censorship here”.
Though there are many subreddits which already disallow posts from social media, those built around professional sports in particular may have a big impact on referrals to X.
That’s because sports subreddits generally get a lot of content from links to athletes, analysts and journalists who spend a lot of time posting online.
For example, the top two most popular posts of all time on the NBA subreddits are screenshots taken from X, while three of the top ten most popular posts of all time on the AEW wrestling subreddit are screenshots from the platform.
But that is not to say the bans will necessarily be permanent – Reddit is known for this sort of community movement to protest against wider issues, which doesn’t always work out.
