Technology

Reddit Bans Influential Pro-Trump Subreddit, Citing Repeated Policy Violations

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Reddit banned a subreddit devoted to President Donald Trump Monday, citing what the company said was the influential subreddit’s repeated policy violations.

More than 790,0000 Reddit accounts used the subreddit, called “The_Donald,” to post memes and viral videos expressing support for the president. A Reddit executive told reporters that the group’s decision to allow people to target and harass other people prompted the ban.

“Reddit is a place for community and belonging, not for attacking people,” Steve Huffman, the company’s chief executive, said in a call with reporters Monday, according to a New York Times. “‘The_Donald’ has been in violation of that.”

“We’ve given them many opportunities to be successful,” Huffman added. “The message is clear that they have no intention of working with us.”

Reddit restricted the pro-Trump forum in 2019, citing months of “rule-breaking behavior” and language supposedly inciting violence.

Many of the popular memes that permeated on social media leading up to the 2016 presidential election originated on “The_Donald.”

Reddit, a 15-year-old company, has more than 430 million regular users and is known for hosting a wide-variety of subjects  — no topics were too arcane. People are allowed to sign up and anonymously participate in any of the 130,000 subreddits.

Company executives argue there is still a place for Trump supporters and conservatives on Reddit. “There’s a home on Reddit for conservatives, there’s a home on Reddit for liberals,” Benjamin Lee, Reddit’s general counsel, told reporters. “There’s a home on Reddit for Donald Trump.”

Reddit’s move follows a series of actions by other social media companies to remove or otherwise censor conservative voices.

Twitter permanently suspended prolific meme-maker “Carpe Donktum” on June 23 for violating the company’s copyright policies. The company’s decision came after Carpe Donktum shared a manipulated video June 18 of a mock report with CNN’s outlet’s logo.

Trump retweeted the video, which then prompted Twitter to label the president’s retweet as “manipulated media” for attributing the spoof chyron to CNN.

Twitter took action against three of Trump’s tweets since the end of May, fact-checking one and censoring two others.