Getty Donald Trump.
Reddit has quarantined a popular pro Donald Trump subreddit called The_Donald. As the action came on the day of the first Democratic debate, some Trump supporters were raising concerns.
However, the action against the page, which has 750,000 users, came because site administrators claimed users “made threats against police officers and public officials,” Reddit claimed. When sites are quarantined, they aren’t as easy for users to find, but you can still enter them if you agree to do so.
When people try to visit the subreddit, they see this message: “Are you sure you want to view this community? This community is quarantined. It is restricted due to significant issues with reporting and addressing violations of the Reddit Content Policy. Most recently the violations have included threats of violence against police and public officials. As a visitor or member, you can help moderators maintain the community by reporting and downvoting rule-breaking content. Are you certain you want to continue?”
The moderators shared part of a note they said they received from Reddit. “Dear Mods, We want to let you know that your community has been quarantined, as outlined in Reddit’s Content Policy,” it read. “The reason for the quarantine is that over the last few months we have observed repeated rule-breaking behavior in your community and an over-reliance on Reddit admins to manage users and remove posts that violate our content policy, including content that encourages or incites violence. Most recently, we have observed this behavior in the form of encouragement of violence towards police officers and public officials in Oregon. This is not only in violation of our site-wide policies, but also your own community rules (rule #9). You can find violating content that we removed in your mod logs.”
According to The New York Times, the development occurred after a “partisan feud in Oregon over a climate change bill,” in which the Democratic governor “ordered the state police to corral Republican lawmakers who had fled the Capitol. There was a one-day closing of the Capitol after threats of militia violence.” The Times reported that the site has been a place for “extremist messages and conspiracy theories,” such as the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.
The New York Times received a statement from Reddit that explained further, “We are clear in our sitewide policies that posting content that encourages or threatens violence is not allowed on Reddit. As we have shared, we are sensitive to what could be considered political speech, however, recent behaviors including threats against the police and public figures is content that is prohibited by our violence policy. As a result, we have actioned individual users and quarantined the subreddit.”
Here’s what you need to know:
There Is a Vigorous Debate on Reddit Itself About the Quarantine
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Once you click that you want to continue to the subreddit, it’s clear that people are very angry about the action, and some view it as another sign of social media/big tech companies’ alleged bias toward conservatives. The companies deny such bias, but it’s become a growing perception among conservatives. The site was a popular forum for people who support Donald Trump and his campaign manager had even tweeted, “@reddit Yes. Visit there daily.” He was responding to a tweet that shared negative information about Hillary Clinton with the comment, “reddit.com/r/The_Donald/ Was my source for this. They find everything.”
In 2016, The Verge reported that Trump himself had answered questions during “his visit to Reddit stronghold r/The_Donald.” He was participating in a Reddit “ask me anything” session.
“Why not quarantine or ban the accounts doing the actions? This would be like jailing the 20 honest politicians for the crimes of the 500,” wrote one user. “whats a good alternative to reddit,” asked another. “And all their leftist sh*t keeps right on going..What a cohencidence it’s right before the socialist debates..” wrote another.
If you go on Reddit, you can see a vigorous discussion about the quarantine. “/r/The_Donald has been quarantined. Discuss this dramatic happening here! MAGATHREAD,” reads a subreddit. The subreddit says: “Possible inciting events. We do not know for sure what triggered the quarantine, but this section will be used to collect links to things that may be related. It is also possible this quarantine was scheduled days in advance, making it harder to pinpoint what triggered it.
/r/The_Donald has been quarantined. Discuss this dramatic happening here!
/r/clownworldwar was banned about 7 hours before.
/r/honkler was quarantined about 15 hours ago
/r/unpopularnews was banned.”