File photo. Reuters.
Reddit has censored the pro-Trump subreddit /The_Donald after allegations of violence against police. Reuters. The site has not been banned entirely, but users will be warned that the sub is quarantined if they visit it. Quarantined subreddits are not found in searches or recommendations. Reddit administrators said that the sub had broken rules in regards to threats in the aftermath of the Oregon standoff between the GOP and the Democratic governor where the governor said she would arrest Republican lawmakers.
The_Donald can be found here.
My Comment:
Huge political censorship on Reddit, one of the most famous liberal circle jerks on the internet. The_Donald is one of the few subreddits were conservatives are even allowed to openly post and I don't think it is surprising that Reddit is moving to censor them.
As a quick disclaimer, I don't use Reddit and I don't have an account there but I do occasionally visit The_Donald. I've long been opposed to Reddit's behavior and generally hate the way it is set up, but when I do go there it's only to a few subreddits and The_Donald is one of them.
The_Donald has always had problems with being attacked by Reddit admins. The CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman, even went so far to edit users posts on The_Donald which were critical of him and the way Reddit was being run. This was a huge deal back when it happened and it shows how biased Reddit is if even their CEO is editing random users posts.
That incident also makes any claims against The_Donald a lot less easier to believe. It has already been shown that Reddit's administrators will go so far as editing people's posts in an effort to discredit The_Donald. Indeed, I haven't seen any actual evidence that any violent content was posted. Usually when something like this happens there will be screenshots of the violating posts but so far I haven't seen anything. It is very possible that nothing was posted at all that broke the rules or that if something was it was posted by someone who had a problem with The_Donald in the first place.
Something has to be done about tech censorship of conservatives. The_Donald was one of the most important pro-Trump places on the internet and I think the played a role in getting President Trump elected. Quarantining it will ensure that less people visit the site and fewer people may be convinced to vote for President Trump in the first place.
Reddit's behavior, along with the behavior of Twitter, Facebook and Google is an existential threat to both President Trump and Republicans. If all places where you can talk about politics are places where Republicans can't post, how on earth are they going to reach voters? How can they win any elections at all if their supporters are kicked out of polite society just for supporting them?
Unfortunately, the GOP seems to be asleep on this threat. They have done little to nothing to counter tech censorship. The only thing that might do some good are the antitrust investigations but those take times and it could cost us the 2020 races. I already think that tech censorship and interference probably cost the GOP the house in 2018 and the problem is only going to get worse in time.
As for the underlying situation that started this whole mess in the first place, I can't believe the hypocrisy here. Generally speaking, all kinds of anti-police rhetoric, including threats against the police, are allowed on Reddit. I mean, they host Black Lives Matter, a group that was founded as a way to threaten and encourage violence against the police. A quick perusal of that subreddit shows many threats against cops. They aren't kicked off or quarantined in the least. I'm not saying they should be, I don't think any subreddits should be banned unless they are doing something illegal consistently, but I did want to point out how hypocritical they are being.
I would also say that there is a huge difference between hating cops because they are cops and advocating self defense against an unlawful and tyrannical attempt to push legislation through. The Oregon situation, which I haven't talked about because I was afraid of Google doing to same thing to this blog as Reddit did to The_Donald, is a situation where the lines aren't anywhere near as clear when it comes to resisting arrest with force. Also, threats, in order to be illegal, have to have a reasonable chance of being taken serious before it becomes a crime. Nobody is going to take a random threat on Reddit seriously even assuming that any threats actually occurred.
Finally, the timing of this is very suspicious as well. As you may know tonight is the first Democratic debates which figures to be a day where there would be much more traffic on The_Donald in the first place. Shutting off the subreddit today, of all days, suggests much more is going on here. I wish that there would be an investigation to figure out of Reddit is taking money from the Democrats but I'm not holding my breath that anything will happen...
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