Fiona Simpson reports:
Reddit has banned two popular “alt-right” communities from the site over claims personal information was shared in a bid to harass people.
The “altright” and “alternativeright” groups, known as “subreddits”, were removed from the forum site on Wednesday.
A message posted on Reddit said altright was removed for “a violation of our content policy, specifically, the proliferation of personal and confidential information”.
Users claimed the ban was sparked after private information about an anti-Trump protester who punched alt-right figurehead Richard Spencer during a TV interview.
Read more on Evening Standard.
A statement by user MortalSisyphus, former mod of /r/altright:
We knew this day was coming, so it comes as no surprise. This banned subreddit is merely one of many in a long history of political suppression on Reddit. We mods did what we could to follow the rules handed down to us, but obviously no subreddit can be water-tight, and there will always be those rare cases which give plausible deniability for transparent censorship. Whatever excuse the admins give for the banning, it is clear to all this is another case of heretical views and opinions being stifled. 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.
According to Reddit, the ban was for “repeated violations.”