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Reddit shuts down subreddits including r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Reddit shuts down subreddits including r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse

#2

Post by softwaredoug »

Both Reddit's and /r/The_Donald speech protected from the outcome. From the article is that that the moderators/participants already have a new place to discuss whatever they want on a reddit clone. Reddit as a platform/company doesn't have to choose to be associated with this hate speech.

Both sides have free speech rights and both have outcomes that support that speech...

Re: Reddit shuts down subreddits including r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse

#6

Post by arcticbull »

softwaredoug wrote: post #2

Both Reddit's and /r/The_Donald speech protected from the outcome. From the article is that that the moderators/participants already have a new place to discuss whatever they want on a reddit clone. Reddit as a platform/company doesn't have to choose to be associated with this hate speech. Both sides have free speech rights and both have outcomes that support that speech...

> Both sides have free speech rights and both have outcomes that support that speech...

"Free speech rights" don't apply between two private entities, only between the government and a private entity.

Re: Reddit shuts down subreddits including r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse

#7

Post by ve55 »

Worth taking note that in today's climate, you really cannot win when you are in a position to moderate important things that a lot of people use.

There is constantly tremendous pressure on you to perform opposing actions, and even making no decision at all will cause you significant mental stress and harassment, regardles of what the issue is.

You have to pick who you want to cave to, and to what extent, and no matter how good of a job you try to do, a lot of people will really really hate you.

This is even more apparent when you see that Reddit has been taking action against a lot more subreddits recently, some of which are listed in the article, and many of which clearly have little to do with the president. The attitude of some of these communities may be abhorrent, but they are still communities, and people do not react well to their communities being deleted, whether a company had the legal authority to, or was justified in doing so, or not.

It's very tough and I wish that we didn't have to go through these things to begin with, and could have more federated and decentralized platforms, or at least more client-side filtering inside of centralization curation. I can always dream.

Re: Reddit shuts down subreddits including r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse

#8

Post by champagneben »

If black people (or perhaps more specifically, subreddits focused on issues pertinent to black communities) were banned on reddit, but they had a much smaller website where they could discuss issues, would it be an outcome that supported their free speech?

Re: Reddit shuts down subreddits including r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse

#9

Post by parliament32 »

Whether you agree with the move or not, it's funny how Reddit's stance has changed over time. Under the old ownership, 2012:

"At reddit we care deeply about not imposing ours or anyone elses’ opinions on how people use the reddit platform. We are adamant about not limiting the ability to use the reddit platform even when we do not ourselves agree with or condone a specific use. We have very few rules here on reddit; no spamming, no cheating, no personal info, nothing illegal, and no interfering the site's functions."

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