Reddit bans transphobic, pro-Trump channels in hate speech purge

One of the most popular online community forums online has banned thousands of channels in a new crackdown on hate speech after revising company policy.

The revised rules follow an announcement from founder and CEO Steve Huffman earlier this week, revealing a tougher stance on hateful language and discrimination on the user-moderated forums. Rule #1 of Reddit’s updated content policy is now “remember the human.”

“Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people,” the policy reads.

“Everyone has a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying, and threats of violence. Communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned.”

Reddit has removed around 2,000 channels (subreddits) from the sprawling website, including r/darkhumorandmemes, the almost 800,000-strong Donald Trump fan page r/The_Donald, and anti-transgender forum r/gendercritical, which promoted a trans-exclusionary version of feminism.

“All communities on Reddit must abide by our content policy in good faith,” Huffman said of the Trump page ban.

“We banned r/The_Donald because it has not done so, despite every opportunity.”

OIP Staff

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