Reddit shuts down 3 major alt-right forums due to harassment

Reddit has banned a handful of controversial subreddits whose members are part of the white nationalist alt-right, because users repeatedly violated the site’s terms of service regarding doxing and harassment.

The most prominent of those subreddits, r/altright, was shut down on Wednesday for “proliferation of personal and confidential information,” according to Reddit. The subreddit had been an ongoing source of controversy and had previously sparked debate in November, after Reddit moderators named it “Subreddit of the Day.” Two additional subreddits, r/alternativeright and r/rightyfriends, were also banned for “violating the Reddit rules.”

In an email to Vox, Reddit did not specify whether a specific incident had prompted the ban, instead repeating a previously issued statement:

Reddit is the proud home to some of the most authentic conversations online. We strive to be a welcoming, open platform for all by trusting our users to maintain an environment that cultivates genuine conversation and adheres to our content policy.

We are very clear in our site terms of service that posting of personal information can get users banned from Reddit and we ask our communities not to post content that harasses or invites harassment. We have banned r/altright due to repeated violations of the terms of our content policy. There is no single solution to these issues and we are actively engaging with the Reddit community to improve everyone's experience.

However, as the Verge notes, speculation among alt-right users on Voat, an alternative to Reddit that’s favored by many members of the alt-right, has suggested that Reddit’s ban is rooted in r/altright members attempting to dox the individual who punched white nationalist Richard Spencer on Inauguration Day, after video of the incident went viral.

On Reddit, speculation centered on a recent “bounty” that was posted on a controversial website called WeSearchr. WeSearchr allows people to crowdfund attempts to track down information of any kind. Though it ostensibly forbids doxing and claims its primary purpose is to crowdfund “journalism,” the website has become known as a tool used by the alt-right to dox and harass its opponents, and Twitter recently suspended its account. The website also drew some speculation that a “bounty” posted by notorious right-wing troll Chuck C. Johnson on locations of places related to the Pizzagate conspiracy may have encouraged the Pizzagate shooter.

The “bounty” that may have ultimately felled r/altright called for the full identification of the man who punched Spencer, and was initiated by the website’s staff with the “alt-right” tag. As of press time, it had collected $5,000 with over 100 donations. The criteria for what constitutes a successful answer on WeSearchr is vague: An info-hunter chooses what they feel is the most correct answer submitted in response to the bounty. If 30 days pass with no challenge to the information’s veracity, then WeSearchr divides the bounty three ways: 75 percent goes to the “Answerer,” 10 percent to the “Asker,” and the rest to the platform.

In late January, during a conversation about whether some Redditors were using WeSearchr to get around Reddit’s policies against doxxing and harassment, one person pointed out that some r/altright posts were linking to WeSearchr at that moment, and asked, “Why isn’t r/altright quarantined?” Now they have their answer.

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Some Reddit users have since moved on to debating whether the site admins will ever get around to banning r/The_Donald, by far the largest and most contentious subreddit among the site’s virulently pro-Trump subreddits. Despite that subreddit’s subtle pushing of the envelope regarding site-wide Reddit rules, it seems likely to stay, as it is not only one of the site’s most popular conservative subreddits, but one with renewed political relevance now that Trump is president.

Reddit’s ban of r/altright is reflective of public outrage against the movement

That Reddit has cracked down on r/altright is a positive sign for anyone who’s worried that the site’s overall culture has skewed in increasingly dangerous directions. As opposition to the alt-right’s message grows, the movement is being driven off more well-known online platforms like Reddit and Twitter and is consequently flocking to “free-speech-friendly” alternatives like Voat and Gab. (Read: sites that are less restrictive regarding harassment and hate speech.)

Still, the former moderator of r/altright responded to the ban with a statement arguing that Reddit’s actions are futile:

But the admins are playing a losing game of whack-a-mole here. The internet is (at least currently) a free, open, anonymous, uncontrolled platform for individuals of every stripe and persuasion to speak their mind and grow as part of a community. The more the established political institutions try to maintain the status quo and marginalize us, the more they will drive free-thinking, independent lovers of truth to our side.

This statement was clearly an attempt to spin the alt-right’s messaging as “free-thinking” and supportive of “truth” instead of a toxic bed of racism and white nationalism. But a different reaction to Reddit ban — this one on Voat — made the movement’s underlying agenda much more clear: “[Reddit] just made their future Holocaust that much bloodier.”