Reddit is having its own reckoning as big social platforms deal with an onslaught of misinformation surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The subreddit r/Russia was put to Reddit’s quarantine list on Tuesday, preventing it from appearing in search results and labelling it with warning notices. The interim move is similar to what Reddit used to control r/The Donald, one of its most notorious poisonous communities, before eventually banning the subreddit entirely.
When you go to r/Russia now, you’ll get a page that says, “This community contains a high volume of information not supported by credible sources.” Users can still access r/Russia by clicking through the warning, but the notification stays at the top of the page.
The r/RussiaPolitics subreddit was likewise placed on the quarantine list and given the same treatment. The company’s moves against r/Russia, which had 265,000 members just before the quarantine, were first reported by Mashable.
The day before r/Russia was quarantined, its administrators pinned posts with the hashtag “denazification” and a Ukrainian flag with flames. Another pinned post erroneously claimed Ukraine’s leadership of deliberately inducing as many casualties as possible, employing human shields, and refusing to negotiate.
Quarantine status is intended to “keep [a subreddit’s] content from being accidentally accessed by those who do not knowingly wish to do so, or viewed without appropriate context,” according to Reddit, leaving a community available to people who were previously participating while limiting its reach.
While it looks that r/Russia earned its isolation by spreading pro-Russian propaganda regarding the invasion of Ukraine, one of its moderators apparently broke Reddit’s policies. Reddit said it “removed a moderator for acting in bad faith” and that it has reached out to the remaining moderators to “remind them of our policies.” The corporation would not comment further on the moderator’s actions.
While it looks that r/Russia earned its isolation by spreading pro-Russian propaganda regarding the invasion of Ukraine, one of its moderators apparently broke Reddit’s policies. Reddit said it “removed a moderator for acting in bad faith” and that it has reached out to the remaining moderators to “remind them of our policies.” The corporation would not comment further on the moderator’s actions.
A Reddit spokeswoman told TechCrunch that they are clear in their standards that moderators and users may not attempt to manipulate and interfere with the conversations or communities on their platform.
