Reddit founder Aaron Schwartz is arrested for illegally downloading 4.8 million documents from JSTOR. His actions are allegedly a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Timothy B. Lee, Former Reddit co-owner arrested for excessive JSTOR downloads, ars Technica (Jul. 19, 2011), https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/07/reddit-founder-arrested-for-excessive-jstor-downloads/.
Reddit ignores its own terms of service in several ways. Reddit's terms state that there will not be any obscene, indecent, or offensive language on its site. It also says there will not be any sexual material on its site. Both of these are outright lies, as both racist/hateful subreddits exist as do many pornographic subreddits. Andrew Couts, Terms & Conditions: Reddit's user agreement is a joke, Digital Trends (Oct. 14, 2012), https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/terms-conditions-reddit/.
Reddit bans links to The Atlantic and Businessweek due to violations of its anti-spam policies. The Atlantic claims it took steps to stop the spam from occurring, while Businessweek claims to have never spammed in the first place. Jeff Bercovici, Reddit Bans The Atlantic, Businessweek In Anti-Spam Crusade, Forbes (Jun. 13, 2012), https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/06/13/reddit-bans-the-atlantic-businessweek-in-anti-spam-crusade/#48887542835e.
Links to IGN have been banned from Reddit after it found that dummy accounts were being used to upvote the articles to inflate their popularity. Kevin Morris, Reddit Bans Gaming Site IGN for Vote Manipulation, Mashable (Sep. 10, 2012), https://mashable.com/2012/09/10/reddit-bans-ign/.
After the Boston Marathon bombing, Reddit was filled with misinformation. This includes the false identification of who many users on Reddit believed was the culprit behind the bombing. David Talbot, Preventing Misinformation from Spreading through Social Media, MIT Technology Review (Apr. 23, 2013), https://www.technologyreview.com/2013/04/23/16168/preventing-misinformation-from-spreading-through-social-media/.
r/science bans climate change deniers from their subreddit. Ian Steadman, Reddit's science section has banned climate change-denying trolls, NewStatesman (Dec. 17, 2013), https://www.newstatesman.com/future-proof/2013/12/reddits-science-section-has-banned-climate-change-denying-trolls.
White supremacist site The Daily Stormer puts out an article titled "Reddit is Fertile Ground for Recruitment." This is because "there are many terrific pro-White communities on Reddit." The article then lists some of those "terrific" subreddits. Sam Biddle, Reddit Is So Racist White Supremacists Are Using it to Recruit, Gawker (Mar. 13, 2015), https://gawker.com/reddit-is-so-racist-white-supremacists-are-using-it-to-1691162974.
Reddit announces its new anti-harassment rules. They will not prohibit attacks and harassment of individuals. Reddit defines harassment as "Systematic and/or continued actions to torment or demean someone in a way that would make a reasonable person (1) conclude that reddit is not a safe platform to express their ideas or participate in the conversation, or (2) fear for their safety or the safety of those around them." Adi Robertson, Reddit announces new anti-harassment rules, The Verge (May 14, 2015), https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/14/8606923/reddit-anti-harassment-policy.
Reddit implements SSL encryption on its site. Russell Brandom,Reddit is moving to total encryption, The Verge (Jun. 17, 2015), https://www.theverge.com/2015/6/17/8800043/reddit-ssl-encryption-privacy-secure-connection.
One week after Reddit's CEO, Ellen Pao, left and received harassment and death threats, Reddit banned many pro-rape subreddits. However, while many pro-rape subreddits such as r/rapingwomen were banned, others, like r/PhilosophyofRape remained. Sam Thielman, Reddit's 'decency' reckoning has begun. Why are trolls and racists still winning?, The Guardian (Jul. 16, 2015), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/16/reddit-decency-reckoning-ellen-pao-trolls.
Reddit bans six white supremacist subreddits that I will not list here because they all have slurs in their titles. Alex Hern, Reddit finally bans its white-supremacist subreddits, The Guardian (Aug. 6, 2015),https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/06/reddit-bans-white-supremacist-subreddits.
Once every few days a popular subreddit promotes a different subreddit to show users new parts of the site. Today that subreddit was r/AltRight, an unsurprisingly alt-right subreddit. r/AltRight is self-described as “full of white nationalists, racial realists, and fascists. That is what we are and we really do not give a shit about tax cuts or other policy issues.” Aja Romano, Reddit's Subreddit of the Day highlighted a white supremacist alt-right forum, Vox (Nov. 16, 2016), https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/16/13642446/reddit-subreddit-of-the-day-alt-right.
Reddit's CEO may have violated section 230 of the Communications Decency Act when he actively trolled users on his site. CDA 230 immunizes website administrators from liability for content posted on their site. However, when users of r/the_donald were angry at him and typing "fuck u/spez" (The CEO's username on the site), he changed the comments to say "fuck (a moderator of r/the_donald)" instead. By taking an active role in trolling these users, he may have changed his role from a provider of a service to a publisher, thereby eliminating his immunity. Heather Antoine, Did Reddit's CEO Pierce Section 230 Protections?, IP Watchdog (Nov. 30, 2016), https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2016/11/30/ready-to-use-did-reddits-ceo-pierce-section-230-protections/id=75066/.
Reddit changes its upvote system to combat cheaters and bots. Devin Coldewey, Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters and show the site's true scale, TechCrunch (Dec. 6, 2016), https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/06/reddit-overhauls-upvote-algorithm-to-thwart-cheaters-and-show-the-sites-true-scale/.
Reddit bans r/altright and r/alternativeright, two alt-right subreddits. Reddit says the ban occurred because the groups were posting personal information, which is a violation of Reddit's terms of service. Sara Fischer, Reddit bans alt-right forums, Axios (Feb. 3, 2017), https://www.axios.com/reddit-bans-alt-right-forums-1513300273-22d503f6-152e-46dc-8f94-502aea144148.html.
Republican member of the House of Representatives Robert Fisher founded the red pill subreddit. The subreddit describes itself as a “discussion of sexual strategy in a culture increasingly lacking a positive identity for men.” Unsurprisingly, the subreddit is very misogynistic.When asked about the subreddit, Fisher claimed he did not know what is was. Bonnie Bacarisse, The Republican Lawmaker Who Secretly Created Reddit's Women-Hating 'Red Pill', The Daily Beast (Apr. 25, 2017), https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-republican-lawmaker-who-secretly-created-reddits-women-hating-red-pill.
Trolls took over several subreddits dedicated to hate and made them silly instead. r/whitepolitics and r/whites are now dedicated to talking about colors. Links that are seemingly racist, like "why whites must be separated from blacks" link to articles about laundry. r/stormfront, a former Nazi subreddit, now regularly features pictures of storms. Aja Romano, Stealth trolling is turning some of Reddit's worst corners into funny, harmless delights, Vox (Aug. 5, 2017), https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/8/5/16098518/reddit-troll-subreddits-mod-takeovers-awkwardturtle.
Reddit unveiled its 2017 transparency report. In this report, it documents that it banned 944 Russian bots in 2017. spez, Reddit's 2017 transparency report and suspect account findings, Reddit (Apr. 10, 2018), https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/8bb85p/reddits_2017_transparency_report_and_suspect/.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman was asked "Is obvious racism, including slurs, against Reddit's rules or not?" In response, he said "It's not." He clarified that individual subreddits can set their own rules about hate speech. Nick Stat, Reddit CEO says racism is permitted on the platform, and users are up in arms, The Verge (Apr. 11, 2018), https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/11/17226416/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-racism-racist-slurs-are-okay.
A hacker broke into Reddit and accessed a user database from 2007. This database contained old, salted and hashed passwords. The hacker also gained access to some current email addresses. KeyserSosa, We had a security incident. Here's what you need to know., Reddit (Aug. 1, 2018), https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/93qnm5/we_had_a_security_incident_heres_what_you_need_to/.
The creator of the Gamergate subreddit, r/KotakuInAction, tried to delete the subreddit because it had become "one of the many cancerous growths that have infiltrated Reddit." He believed the subreddit had become filled with racism and sexism. A Reddit administrator reinstated the subreddit, despite the rampant sexism and racism in the subreddit. Megan Farokhmanesh, Reddit employee saved Gamergate forum KotakuInAction after its creator tried to destroy it, The Verge (Jul. 13, 2018), https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/13/17568598/reddit-employee-gamergate-forum-kotaku-in-action-creator.
Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke are both using bots on Reddit in an attempt to get votes in the upcoming Senate race. The bots are explicitly bots with known purposes. Forrest Milburn, Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz's Texas Senate race turns to Reddit bots, Facebook Live to court voters, Dallas News (Aug. 8, 2018), https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2018/08/08/beto-o-rourke-and-ted-cruz-s-texas-senate-race-turns-to-reddit-bots-facebook-live-to-court-voters/.
After ignoring reports for over a year, Reddit shut down 143 Iranian propaganda accounts. These troll accounts aimed to sow discord in American discussion and pushed policies that would benefit Iran. Karl Bode, Reddit Ignored a Year's Worth of User Warnings About Iranian Propaganda, Techdirt (Sep. 6, 2018), https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180831/11564440558/reddit-ignored-years-worth-user-warnings-about-iranian-propaganda.shtml.
Reddit bans r/greatawakening as well as other QAnon subreddits. QAnon subreddits were dedicated to conspiracy theories espoused by the supposed Q. These conspiracy theories generally pertained to Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, and other politicians. Generally, these theories were believed by the alt right. Bijan Stephen, Reddit's QAnon Ban Points to How it's Tracking Toxic Communities, The Verge (Sep. 12, 2018), https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/12/17847186/reddit-qanon-milliondollarextreme-ban-sam-hyde.
Russian trolls, in a coordinated effort, had several sites connected to Russian influence operations gain popularity on r/the_donald, Reddit's most popular pro-Trump subreddit. Russell Bramdon, Russian trolls sites infiltrated Donald Trump subreddit as recently as this month, The Verge (Sep. 24, 2018), https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/24/17896586/reddit-the-donald-russia-troll-farm-ira-influence-operation.
After detecting suspicious activity, Reddit blocks many accounts that had poor passwords and forces the users to reset them. Phil Muncaster, Reddit Locks Down Accounts After Security Incident, Info Security Magazine (Jan. 10, 2019), https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/reddit-locks-down-accounts-after/.
Research conducted by Engadget and Point found that many Russian trolls and propaganda sites are still influencing pro-Trump subreddits. Notably, Russian trolls were not only present in pro-Trump subreddits, however, pro-Trump subreddits made up the majority of their targets. William Gayde, Russian trolls are still wreaking havoc on many Reddit communities, Techspot (Feb. 5, 2019), https://www.techspot.com/news/78598-russian-trolls-wreaking-havoc-many-reddit-communities.html.
Many Reddit users believe there are Chinese government-sponsored users who are engaging in a disinformation campaign meant to bury anti-Chinese sentiment on the site. Many accounts espouse Chinese propaganda as well. Craig Silverman and Jane Lytvynenko, Reddit Has Become A Battleground of Alleged Chinese Trolls, BuzzFeed News (Mar. 14, 2019), https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/reddit-coordinated-chinese-propaganda-trolls.
A court rules that first amendment protections for anonymous speakers also apply to foreign speakers. This ruling pertains to an subpoena that was issued to Reddit to deanonymize one of the users. Alex Moss, Reddit Commenter's Fight for Anonymity Is a Win for Free Speech and Fair Use, Electronic Frontier Foundation (May 21, 2019), https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/05/reddit-commenters-fight-anonynmity-win-free-speech-and-fair-use.
Reddit warned users of r/the_donald against "systematic harassment" of the whistleblower that set off the impeachment inquiry. This came after a series of posts to the subreddit that seemed to inspire vigilantism or focus mob attention on the whistleblower. Donie O'Sullivan, Reddit warns Trump supporters against 'systematic harassment' of potential whistleblower, CNN (Nov. 20, 2019), https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/20/tech/reddit-trump-whistleblower/index.html.
Evidence shows a Russian disinformation campaign occurred on Reddit a week before an election in the U.K. Michael B. Farrell, Reddit: Evidence shows suspected Russian role in disinformation campaign ahead of U.K. election, Politico (Dec. 6, 2019), https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/06/reddit-russia-disinformation-uk-election-077604.
Facebook, Reddit, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube issued a joint statement on Coronavirus misinformation. "We are working closely together on COVID-19 response efforts. We're helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world. We invite other companies to join us as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe." Catherine Shu and Jonathan Shieber, Facebook, Reddit, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube issue joint statement on misinformation, TechCrunch (Mar. 16, 2020), https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/16/facebook-reddit-google-linkedin-microsoft-twitter-and-youtube-issue-joint-statement-on-misinformation/.
Research conducted by Marc Owen Jones at Hamad bin Khalifa University found that many bots are spouting the 5G caused Coronavirus conspiracy theory. Blackbird.AI, an American company, confirms that there has been a surge of posts about this conspiracy theory. Bloomberg, 5G virus conspiracy theory fuelled by coordinated effort involving bot accounts, researchers say, South China Morning Post (Apr. 10, 2020), https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3079328/5g-virus-conspiracy-theory-fuelled-coordinated-effort-involving-bot.
Reddit unveils its new political ad transparency tools. Namely, there is now a searchable database of political ads that ran on its site from 2019 onward. This database shows advertisers, spending, and where the advertisers wanted the ads to run on Reddit as well as where the users the ads were aimed at were located. Ryan Lovelace, Reddit creates new political ad transparency tools ahead of 2020 elections, Washington Times (Apr. 14, 2020), https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/14/reddit-creates-new-political-ad-transparency-tools/.
Reddit announces that it will be banning 2,000 subreddits for violations of its terms of service, namely hate speech. The biggest of the pages was r/The_Donald, whose users had mostly migrated away from Reddit and onto their own, reddit-like site by this point. David Ingram & Ben Collins, Reddit bans hundreds of subreddits for hate speech including Trump community, NBC News (June 29, 2020), https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-bans-hundreds-subreddits-hate-speech-including-trump-community-n1232408.
Meme-stock subreddit r/WallStreetBets is in large part responsible for a short squeeze causing Gamestop's stock to soar. Months later, the price is still higher than anticipated due to "hodlers" refusing to sell. Vince Martin, GameStop Stock Is No Longer a Short Squeeze - So What's Left?, InvestorPlace (Mar. 18, 2021), https://investorplace.com/2021/03/gme-stock-gamestop-long-past-being-short-squeeze/.
Reddit hired Aimee Challenor as an administrator at reddit. Prior to this, Challenor was a politician in the British Green Party who infamously hired her father, a known at the time and since imprisoned child-rapist, to be her campaign manager. Criticism of the decision or Challenor on Reddit was met with many blocks by Reddit. In response, dozens of Reddit's biggest pages went private in protest. This amounted to Challenor being let go from the position. Santi Ruiz, Reddit Faces Massive User Protest for Banning Criticism of Controversial Employee, The Washington Free Beacon (Mar. 24, 2021), https://freebeacon.com/culture/reddit-faces-massive-user-protest-for-banning-criticism-of-controversial-employee/.
Reddit banned a subreddit dedicated to COVID-19 disinformation, r/NoNewNormal. The ban came after many of Reddit's most popular subreddits wrote an open letter to Reddit demanding r/NoNewNormal's ban, then also performed a blackout in protest. r/NoNewNormal was not banned for disinformation, but for brigading. However, another 54 COVID-19 disinformation subreddits were quarantined at the same time for violating Reddit's policies about harassment. Carlie Porterfield, Reddit Bans Controversial Covid Subreddit After Users Protest Disinformation, Forbes (Sep. 1, 2021),https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/09/01/reddit-bans-controversial-covid-subreddit-after-users-protest-disinformation/?sh=bf3f1955a2a6.
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