Over 100 Reddit groups ban X links in protest at Musk arm gesture

BBC.com

Reddit groups ban X links in protest at Musk arm gesture 4 hours ago Tom Gerken Technology reporter 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 BBC has independently verified that at least 100 subreddits have banned X posts.
While the vast majority of subreddits discussing a ban are in favour of it, there are some that have refused.
And gaming subreddits have a similar story, with the top posts on the Animal Crossing and Kingdom Hearts communities both screenshots from X.
Some of the biggest Reddit communities then began only allowing photos and videos of comedian John Oliver, following comments from disgruntled users.

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In response to Musk’s arm gesture, Reddit groups have banned X links.

Four hours ago.

Tom Gerken.

A reporter on technology.

When Elon Musk, the owner of X, made a controversial arm gesture at a rally commemorating Donald Trump’s return to office, more than 100 Reddit communities banned users from posting links to the website.

Twice the billionaire thanked the audience for “making it happen” while straightening his arm. “.”.

Several historians and other critics claimed it was a Nazi salute; Musk denied this, calling Hitler analogies “tired” and “dirty tricks.”. “.”.

Many Reddit users, however, were not convinced by his response, calling his actions “hateful.” As a result, the moderators of numerous communities, or subreddits, have decided to prevent content from being shared on X.

Reddit has assured the BBC in a statement that it “has a longstanding commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of association” and that there is no sitewide ban on X links, to which X has not responded.

However, the site mainly depends on community moderation, where unpaid users called Redditors choose what can and cannot be posted on their own section of the website.

Many times, those Redditors have come to a different conclusion, concluding that Mr. Musk’s actions were so offensive that they will not link to content from their subreddits on X. This could potentially lower engagement, traffic, and ultimately revenue.

The largest subreddits to enforce the ban are the American football community r/NFL, which has 12 million members; the basketball community r/NBA, which has 15 million members; and the female-focused community r/TwoXChromosomes, which has 14 million members.

It is important to keep in mind that subreddits are nearly always run by fans; this does not imply that the NFL or NBA are opposing Musk.

The BBC has independently confirmed that X posts have been banned from at least 100 subreddits.

Over 60 of these have at least 100,000 members.

However, when smaller subreddits with a few thousand members are taken into consideration, the actual number that have implemented the ban will probably be much higher.

A possible blacklisting is also being discussed in a lot of other communities.

By whom and for what reason?

The prohibitions have been implemented by communities for numerous US sports teams, including Formula 1, as well as by subreddits populated by supporters of the football teams Liverpool, Celtic, and Tottenham Hotspur.

Posts to X have also been blocked by the subreddits where people from many different cities and nations congregate worldwide, from South Korea to New Jersey.

Additionally, players are among those who have proposed banning video games like World of Warcraft and Baldur’s Gate 3.

Although the blacklisting may have originated in some of these communities, it is now appearing in a number of locations where people congregate to talk about a wide range of subjects, from Disneyland to the military and even RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Some subreddits have refused to ban, even though the great majority support it.

For instance, the community moderators in Maine state that they will not impose a ban as long as “the state maintain official accounts there.”.

Those in charge of a British Columbian group also stated that they aren’t “doing censorship here.”.

Is it an issue?

Even though a lot of subreddits already forbid social media posts, those centered around professional sports in particular might significantly influence referrals to X.

The reason for this is that links to athletes, analysts, and journalists who spend a lot of time posting online typically feed sports subreddits with a lot of content.

For instance, three of the ten most popular posts ever on the AEW wrestling subreddit are screenshots from the platform, and the top two most popular posts ever on the NBA subreddits are screenshots from X.

Similarly, the most popular posts on the Kingdom Hearts and Animal Crossing subreddits are screenshots from X.

However, this does not imply that the bans will be permanent. Reddit is renowned for its community-based protests against broader issues, which are not always successful.

Thousands of communities “went dark” in 2023 in protest of changes to the platform’s operations.

Following comments from irate users, some of the largest Reddit communities then started to restrict access to images and videos of comedian John Oliver.

This, however, was not long-lasting.

The communities were eventually made largely accessible to the public once more, and Reddit’s strategy eventually paid off financially; the platform later went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

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