1w ago

Hundreds of subreddits are considering banning all links to X

www.404media.co Hundreds of Subreddits Are Considering Banning All Links to X

Dozens of big subreddits have already banned all Twitter links, and posts about potential bans are some of the most popular on the site.

Summary

Hundreds of subreddits are debating banning links to X.com (formerly Twitter) following Elon Musk’s Nazi salute at a Trump rally.

Dozens of subreddit moderators have already implemented bans, while others are holding votes among their communities.

The bans span political, regional, and topical subreddits, including r/NewJersey, r/londonOntario, and r/christianity, with some highlighting Musk’s gesture alongside neo-Nazi imagery.

This move reflects growing backlash against Musk and his platform over perceived alignment with extremist symbolism.

Reddit @lemmy.world

mesamune @lemmy.world

1w ago

Hundreds of Subreddits Are Considering Banning All Links to (formally Twitter)

www.404media.co /hundreds-of-subreddits-are-considering-banning-all-links-to-x/

314 16

Censorship News @thelemmy.club

realcaseyrollins @thelemmy.club

1w ago

Hundreds of Subreddits Are Considering Banning All Links to X

www.404media.co /hundreds-of-subreddits-are-considering-banning-all-links-to-x/

8 0

90 comments

Until spaz says that's a no go and forces them to allow them. Just don't use reddit
- I have an account for a few specific subs (that shut down during the strike) that don't have Lemmy equivalents. But I really don't browse. The only time I get on there is to check reactions to big events (football games, new movies, etc). And even then it's pretty rare.
  
  Be the change you want to see in the Fediverse.
- That won't happen. As Twitter dies those users have to go somewhere. While Reddit isn't a direct competitor as a service, it is in terms of time/eyeballs.
  Ideally folks would move to Mastodon/Lemmy/etc, but that's a different problem.
  
  Issue is bluesky is where they're going but from what I've read a bridge could be made? Still very new to this, not sure how that would work.
- Or until 2 days, like most (or many) of the subreddits participating in the blackout lol

Honestly the fact how bad user experience X is for unregistered users should be reason enough to ban links to X.
- The experience for unregistered users on Reddit is almost as bad as twitter, I don't think Reddit cares about that.
  
  Yeah, especially on mobile where they keep bugging people to install their app even if you've logged in. Sometimes they even block you from viewing certain communities on mobile if you're not using their app but if you've desktop site enabled from browser settings.
  
  Yeaaa almost everything good requires logging in on reddit

What a coincidence, I've been banning all links to reddit. This is working out great.

Maybe they will leave oligarch owned social media next.
- I mean I doubt it. After all, the next-best thing is Lemmy.
  
  Are any Lemmy instances banning x links? I haven't heard of it, but would be in favor of it.
  
  LMAO well said. It sucks that we really don't have a decent alternative to reddit. I miss my niche subs.
  Digg should have never released V4. It was reddit's only competition, but now it's a soulless, corporate curated media platform. You can't even comment anymore.

Reddit's response to this will reveal where Reddit likely falls on the Spectrum of Evil. They're a privately-held company, so any possible protection money they may have paid to the Nazis won't be visible like Meta's and such until the FEC report is (likely never) released in 3 months.
- Can't say for sure, but knowing spez, Reddit Inc willl be bleep Trump's bleep harder than a Philippine bleep on a black Friday sale...
  50 bucks say that within 6 months Reddit will have a policy that prohibits reddit subs from blocking twatter links.
  
  I would not take that bet lol, i guarantee they are tweaking over this and scared about how this effects shareholders, they should be more worried about all the sus nsfw stuff right next to ads for "wholesome" companies
- Didn't they recently go public? They're traded as RDDT on the New York Stock Exchange.
  
  Yes, they went public last year. And despite all the gloating on lemmy about a drop in share price right after the ipo, it's up 500% since then.
  Edit: 300%

We're spending so much media attention on this Nazi salute that I'm wondering if it may have been the intent all along - tie up media coverage while the Trump administration pushes harmful legislation through under the radar.
- The thing is, Trump's harmful policies are in fact Nazi policies. We need to be spending more attention on the fact that there are now Nazis in the White House.
- Well, trump is doing some weird old chap shit... musk did a master move (relative to it's intelect)
  That is how i read the situation
- What are we going to do. Ignore the Nazi in the room?
- Thus, the stun lock begins

Boycotting Twitter is a good idea for many reasons. However this kind of blanket link ban will lead to more informational segregation quickly. This has already happened in many ways since the beginning of the war on Ukraine. Linking to Telegram or any Russian website is no longer allowed in many forums, e. g. Reddit. That has made finding original sources and verifying information much more difficult.
Take links to videos for example. Reddit is full of videos copied from YouTube, Telegram, TikTok, etc. without attributing the original source. The World Wide Web was supposed to link information together into a network, where you can follow up on origins snd details. Nowadays it has turned into a series of copy & paste silos, enabling the most extreme echo chambers.
- Yes, but on the other hand...
  Fuck Nazi's
  
  Can't argue with that.
  
  Start watching and listening to the source and not just rage bait headlines and memes.
  
  Sure. MAGA/Trumpism aren’t reincarnated Nazis though. It is a uniquely American populist personality cult. Calling them Nazis means you don’t understand how they operate and why they’re successful.
- I think segregation is the long term plan.
  Divide and conquer.
  Knowledge is power; Wikipedia is next on the hit list.
  
  I doubt there’s a plan behind this.
  Social media wasn’t the primary driver behind the Arab spring. The economic issues were the trigger. People couldn’t afford to buy food. Lack of food will topple any government. Media control only gets one so far.
  On the Internet the dominant websites can change quickly. Being banned from Twitter enabled Trump‘s Truth Social. Buying Twitter gave Elon Musk a giant soap box. However new soapboxes are constructed all the time and some succeed.
  
  The changes in attitudes towards social media websites, caused in this instance by Elon Musk are a great way for those in power to suppress another Arab Spring type event in the future.
  The change in attitude is the consequence, not the cause. The best way for those in power to suppress another Arab Spring type event is a change in ownership of a massively influential social media platform where the richest man can take over completely to censor and control the narrative and oh, whoops... that already happened.
  
  First they banned in person socializing/communication, next will be internet communication/socializing

And they'll eventually not do it considering they are still debating about it. Just do it.
- Some have already banned, some are in the process of voting.

So that's what it takes before people think of leaving twitter.
- They have concepts of leaving, but addiction is a bitch. Most will stay.
- People have been leaving Twitter in waves for years. This is just another one.

Garbage blocking garbage. Fuck Reddit
- 11 year old account banned for saying that if there was a revolution the rich wouldn't have the resources to protect themselves
  No previous infractions
- Never looked back.

I can't believe it's taken this long. I get disappointed when microblogmeme jpegs don't have 2 @ symbols in them.

Have had twitter blocked in my dns server for ages. All the big social media companies. Totally worth it.

I wish I could stop using WhatsApp but that's where all the people without phone plans are. I wish I could stop using Telegram but that's where all the drug dealers are. I wish Reddit would ban X links, but that's where all the sassy hot takes are.
- You can of course, you're just chosing to support zuck, musk and durov because it's slightly inconvenient for you not to
  Of those three, telegram isn't as bad though. They're insecure and share data with law enforcement etc, but they're not as active and enthusiastic collaborators with Trump
  
  My point is the network effect. That's where people are and I have no power to change that, so that is where I must sometimes be. If it was up to me, things would be wonderful and open source. But I sometimes have to deal with — ugh... humans.
  
  insecure and share data with law enforcement
  [citation needed]

I've banned new Teslas from going before me at stop signs, passing me on the freeway, and not being cut off by me within inches in the left lane at any opportunity I can take.
Edit: was really expecting greater than zero downvotes for the last sentence. Thanks for letting me talk shit and knowing I'm not trying to endanger any safety for real
- I choose to believe this is brilliant trolling

eh, spez is probably going to step in and force them back to require Twitter or something. he wouldn't want to be pushed out of the oligarchy.
fuck spez in advance

Lemmy should do the same.

Paywalled link

Please do

Just ban it!

I don't care what Reddit does, it's dead to me
- do they not ban all lemmy links as well?
  guide them to Lemmy and my comment becomes “[ Removed by Reddit ]” after a few seconds
  lemmy
  hacker news

The bots are going nuts over there... lol.. no way the TOP comments of some of those are legit...

Ban links to reddit please. Fucking cesspool. Ban the self-righteous know-it-all users too.

It's actually scary how much of Reddit is full of astroturf and overly sensitive moderators these days. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Are there other sites to which links are banned? I don't really like that policy for anything no matter how nefarious. Unless it's malware or a liability and going to land the visitor in prison.
- Links to Russian websites and telegram are banned on most of not all subreddits.
  
  That kind of things is part of the reason I came to Lemmy.
- Porn sites without strict CSAM, malicious injection or spam protection, many individual subs ban extreme right-wing sites, Fox News or opposite left-etc
  
  I have less of an issue with individual communities banning certain links, I think an instance-wide ban on anything due to ideology is annoying. I can figure out that Nazis suck on my own, thank you.