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The Reddit Files
Confirmed

After Moderator Blackout, Reddit Bans r/NoNewNormal and Quarantines 54 Subs

In August 2021, moderators of hundreds of subreddits signed an open letter asking Reddit to act on COVID-19 misinformation, and many large communities went private when Reddit refused. On September 1, Reddit banned r/NoNewNormal and quarantined 54 other COVID-skeptic communities.

Sep 1, 2021
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Whose side it served: Democrats

The action followed a pressure campaign by moderators of mainstream subs and fell on COVID-skeptic communities, a position more common on the right.

What the record shows

Reason reported that moderators of more than 450 subreddits signed a letter asking Reddit to 'take action against the rampant Coronavirus misinformation,' and that about 150 subreddits went private in protest; Business Insider reported 135 going dark. Reddit first refused, with CEO Steve Huffman saying 'disagreeing with them is not against our policies,' referring to the CDC. Reddit then banned r/NoNewNormal (about 120,000 members), saying it was 'the source of around 80 brigades in the last 30 days,' and quarantined 54 other subreddits under Rule 1. Reddit stated the ban was for brigading, not for misinformation itself.

In their words

“the source of around 80 brigades in the last 30 days”— Reddit, announcement on r/NoNewNormal ban · source
“disagreeing with them is not against our policies”— Steve Huffman, Reddit CEO, referring to the CDC · source
The other side

Reddit says the ban was for brigading, which is interference with other communities, a rule that applies regardless of viewpoint. Critics, including Reason and Reclaim The Net, argue that Reddit reversed its own stated position under pressure from a moderator protest and used brigading as the formal reason.

Sources

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