Reddit bans subreddit accused of spreading Covid-19 disinformation after refusing to take...

[jsilva]

What just happened? In response to an open letter asking Reddit's administration to ban subreddits spreading Covid-19 misinformation, an admin stated that as "a place for open and authentic discussion and debate", Reddit wouldn't ban subreddits on those terms. A week later, Reddit banned one of the flagged subreddits under the accusation that its members were "brigading" other subreddits, manipulating content through votes.

When Reddit moderators wrote the open letter, they hoped it would cause the administration to take some kind of action on the multiple subreddits spreading disinformation on Covid-19 throughout the platform, but that didn't happen. The administration justified the lack of action by stating that dissent is "the foundation of democracy," so it's only natural to see "conversations that question or disagree with popular consensus" in a platform like Reddit, where democracy sits at its core.

Since the administration's answer to the letter, a week has passed, and although it decided to not ban subreddits for spreading disinformation, that doesn't mean they won't do it for other reasons.

Yesterday, the r/NoNewNormal subreddit, which was accused of spreading disinformation about Covid-19, was banned due to its members "brigading" and manipulating content on "communities with more mainstream views on COVID or location-based communities that have been discussing COVID restrictions."

In the 30 days prior to the ban being issued, some of the 120,000 members of r/NoNewNormal were responsible for 80 brigades on multiple other subreddits. Even after the Reddit administration issued a warning to the r/NoNewNormal moderators, these brigades continued to happen.

Besides the ban on r/NoNewNormal, Reddit is also quarantining 54 undisclosed Covid denial subreddits under Rule 1 of the Reddit content policy. Moreover, it will also build a new reporting tool so moderators can signal Reddit when they spot community interference. This tool will still take a few days to build. Once complete, it will be evaluated to see if it's worth it.

The ban on r/NoNewNormal has been mostly well-received, with many members of the Reddit community being somewhat surprised with Reddit's action after stating it wouldn't do anything. However, some people are certainly not that happy with how things went.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/91081-reddit-bans-subreddit-accused-spreading-covid-19-disinformation.html

 

[Sausagemeat]

A conspiracy theorist would see this as confirmation that their theories are right..

This doesn’t help anything and just sets a bad precedent, Reddit is now a censored platform. Today it’s covid misinformation but what will be censored next? They won’t always get it right.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I would pay money to watch a compilation of conspiracy theorists being forced to take the vaccine.

 

[Inthenstus]

A conspiracy theorist would see this as confirmation that their theories are right..

This doesn’t help anything and just sets a bad precedent, Reddit is now a censored platform. Today it’s covid misinformation but what will be censored next? They won’t always get it right.

It’s been a censored platform for YEARS.. this isn’t anything new..

 

[Neatfeatguy]

If this happened in Australia, the local police force would have just logged in, deleted everything and walked away.

 

[Sausagemeat]

If this happened in Australia, the local police force would have just logged in, deleted everything and walked away.

Just out of curiosity, what qualifies Australian police to be the censors?

 

[DukeJukem]

A conspiracy theorist would see this as confirmation that their theories are right..

This doesn’t help anything and just sets a bad precedent, Reddit is now a censored platform. Today it’s covid misinformation but what will be censored next? They won’t always get it right.

or we can just look at this as censoring free speech/the right to your own opinion.

 

[Kosmoz]

What I want to know is what is considered "Covid-19 misinformation"?

Because I have a feeling it's meaning is actually used backwards or twisted, than the reality of it is...

Then again the entire world is going crazy, so I am expecting this. And to happen more and more from now on.

 

[Tantor]

I would pay money to watch a compilation of conspiracy theorists being forced to take the vaccine.

I love how you guys display so much hatred for the vulnerable people that you claim you want to protect.

 

[HofyPC]

How dare they?! Isn't Covid-19 misinformation the governments job?

 

[maxxcool7421]

A conspiracy theorist would see this as confirmation that their theories are right..

This doesn’t help anything and just sets a bad precedent, Reddit is now a censored platform. Today it’s covid misinformation but what will be censored next? They won’t always get it right.

I approve nuking EVERY thread with this nonsense.. at some point you stop allowing dummies with zero clue and full of medical IGNORANCE and lies and ban them all.

 

[Tantor]

A conspiracy theorist would see this as confirmation that their theories are right..

Yes, and they would be 100% correct. There is an obvious conspiracy to crush freedom of speech. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to see what's under your nose. It might take a bit of courage and thinking out of the box, but it's bloody obvious.

People who criticize conspiracy theorists are just displaying their own psychological projection. They theorize that skeptics conspire to spread false information.

 

[maxxcool7421]

I love how you guys display so much hatred for the vulnerable people that you claim you want to protect.

22 months later ... were still here .. 100% their fault now. screw them..

But on the other hand ... if we let them keep dying 100:1 versus vaxed NORMAL people ... then that is that many LESS REPUBLICAN VOTES for 2024. WIN WIN... better gene pool, less republican votes.

On that note also keep ''believing the election was stolen'' (facepalm) ... after it gets repeated enough a small % of republicans will stop voting .. EVEN MORE votes off the table for 2024. win-win.

 

[Sausagemeat]

I approve nuking EVERY thread with this nonsense.. at some point you stop allowing dummies with zero clue and full of medical IGNORANCE and lies and ban them all.

I don’t agree. Because you will not always be right and also because deleting threads doesn’t make people change their minds. It reinforces their opinion.

Let people hang their dirty opinions out for all the world to see I say.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Just out of curiosity, what qualifies Australian police to be the censors?

Australia passes surveillance bill that lets police take over accounts, alter, and delete data

The Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 gives the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) powers to modify, add to,...

www.techspot.com

 

[MaXtor]

Was it a conspiracy when they said the virus came from a US funded Chinese laboratory? Was it a conspiracy when they said in the beginning that 14 days to slow the spread wasn't the end of it? Was it a conspiracy when they said over a year ago that it would lead to mandated vaccines? Was it a conspiracy when they said a year ago that vaccine passports were coming? Was it a conspiracy when they said late last year that it wouldn't stop at two shots?

The answer to all of those questions is YES. At the time people where censored and some banned from social media sites for having those beliefs. Since then they have been proven right, over and over.

And everyone just goes a long with it. If you floated those ideas to people at the time, you were called a conspiracy theorist. Now you say the same exact things and people are like "well duh, it's for your safety."

What I learned in the last year or so, many "conspiracy theories" are not misinformation, they're just early. But lets go ahead and censor them all, lets ensure the government, corporations and the corporate media can keep pushing a narrative that changes with the direction of the wind. People love it, like a donkey with a carrot on a string.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Was it a conspiracy when they said the virus came from a US funded Chinese laboratory? Was it a conspiracy when they said in the beginning that 14 days to slow the spread wasn't the end of it? Was it a conspiracy when they said over a year ago that it would lead to mandated vaccines? Was it a conspiracy when they said a year ago that vaccine passports were coming? Was it a conspiracy when they said late last year that it wouldn't stop at two shots?

The answer to all of those questions is YES. At the time people where censored and some banned from social media sites for having those beliefs. Since then they have been proven right, over and over.

And everyone just goes a long with it. If you floated those ideas to people at the time, you were called a conspiracy theorist. Now you say the same exact things and people are like "well duh, it's for your safety."

What I learned in the last year or so, many "conspiracy theories" are not misinformation, they're just early. But lets go ahead and censor them all, lets ensure the government, corporations and the corporate media can keep pushing a narrative that changes with the direction of the wind. People love it, like a donkey with a carrot on a string.

Always fun to pick and choose... Was it true when they said over the counter drugs can cure Covid?
Was it true that masks did nothing and shouldn't be worn?
Was it true that Covid was no worse than the flu?
Was it true that you were better off catching it and waiting for herd immunity?

The answer to all of THOSE was a resounding NO!!

Instead of spouting nonsense that may or may not be true, maybe give some evidence... misinformation is anything that hasn't been verified (no, someone's blog doesn't count).

During a pandemic, spouting misinformation like "don't wear a mask" or "you can cure Covid with Ivermectin" simply makes more people catch the disease...

 

[MaXtor]

Always fun to pick and choose... Was it true when they said over the counter drugs can cure Covid?

Despite censorship by the US government and their cherry picked studies, YES. That's what the majority of the studies show.

Here are the main two that were demonized:
HCQ: https://c19hcq.com/
Ivermectin: https://c19ivermectin.com/

And here's an overview of so many others:

COVID-19 early treatment: real-time analysis of 1,757 studies

COVID-19 early treatment: real-time analysis of 1,757 studies

c19early.com

Was it true that masks did nothing and shouldn't be worn?

Fauci also pushed this, now he's pushing double masks. If you're wearing three masks and I fart, can you smell it?

Was it true that Covid was no worse than the flu?

Depending on your age, yes. Young people, especially children are far more likely to die from the flu than from covid.

Was it true that you were better off catching it and waiting for herd immunity?

We still don't know for sure, but it's definitely beginning to appear that way. At least that's the data coming out of Isreal (one of the most vaccinated countries).

"The new analysis relies on the database of Maccabi Healthcare Services, which enrolls about 2.5 million Israelis. The study, led by Tal Patalon and Sivan Gazit at KSM, the system’s research and innovation arm, found in two analyses that never-infected people who were vaccinated in January and February were, in June, July, and the first half of August, six to 13 times more likely to get infected than unvaccinated people who were previously infected with the coronavirus. In one analysis, comparing more than 32,000 people in the health system, the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 was 27 times higher among the vaccinated, and the risk of hospitalization eight times higher."

Science | AAAS

www.science.org

Regardless of whether you agree with any of my answers, that's fine. The point here is that we should allow for free and open debate. Many times (definitely not always) "misinformation" is simply early information. The basis of science is debate, it's questioning everything, and we're no longer doing that. We get one official narrative and then we're told to "trust the science," that's not science.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

I would pay money to watch a compilation of conspiracy theorists being forced to take the vaccine.

I suspect you can still find some German WW2 videos regarding medical experimentation on people if that's your thing...

 

[VaRmeNsI]

There seems to be a merger of state and big corporations, I think that's known as fascism.

 

[DukeJukem]

I would pay money to watch a compilation of conspiracy theorists being forced to take the vaccine.

you possess a reptilian brain lol

 

[TheBigFatClown]

Despite censorship by the US government and their cherry picked studies, YES. That's what the majority of the studies show.

Here are the main two that were demonized:
HCQ: https://c19hcq.com/
Ivermectin: https://c19ivermectin.com/

And here's an overview of so many others:

COVID-19 early treatment: real-time analysis of 1,757 studies

COVID-19 early treatment: real-time analysis of 1,757 studies

c19early.com

Fauci also pushed this, now he's pushing double masks. If you're wearing three masks and I fart, can you smell it?



Depending on your age, yes. Young people, especially children are far more likely to die from the flu than from covid.



We still don't know for sure, but it's definitely beginning to appear that way. At least that's the data coming out of Isreal (one of the most vaccinated countries).

"The new analysis relies on the database of Maccabi Healthcare Services, which enrolls about 2.5 million Israelis. The study, led by Tal Patalon and Sivan Gazit at KSM, the system’s research and innovation arm, found in two analyses that never-infected people who were vaccinated in January and February were, in June, July, and the first half of August, six to 13 times more likely to get infected than unvaccinated people who were previously infected with the coronavirus. In one analysis, comparing more than 32,000 people in the health system, the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 was 27 times higher among the vaccinated, and the risk of hospitalization eight times higher."

Science | AAAS

www.science.org

Regardless of whether you agree with any of my answers, that's fine. The point here is that we should allow for free and open debate. Many times (definitely not always) "misinformation" is simply early information. The basis of science is debate, it's questioning everything, and we're no longer doing that. We get one official narrative and then we're told to "trust the science," that's not science.

Thank You so much "for" your post. Absolutely nailed it. Can we get a mic drop please?

 

[maxxcool7421]

I don’t agree. Because you will not always be right and also because deleting threads doesn’t make people change their minds. It reinforces their opinion.

Let people hang their dirty opinions out for all the world to see I say.

I do not care about changing their minds... these ''people'' (super loose defintion of people btw) wont, so do not even try. just ban.

 

[maxxcool7421]

you possess a reptilian brain lol

I'd elect a lizard man in a heart beat right now...

 

[maxxcool7421]

Was it a conspiracy when they said the virus came from a US funded Chinese laboratory? Was it a conspiracy when they said in the beginning that 14 days to slow the spread wasn't the end of it? Was it a conspiracy when they said over a year ago that it would lead to mandated vaccines? Was it a conspiracy when they said a year ago that vaccine passports were coming? Was it a conspiracy when they said late last year that it wouldn't stop at two shots?

The answer to all of those questions is YES. At the time people where censored and some banned from social media sites for having those beliefs. Since then they have been proven right, over and over.

And everyone just goes a long with it. If you floated those ideas to people at the time, you were called a conspiracy theorist. Now you say the same exact things and people are like "well duh, it's for your safety."

What I learned in the last year or so, many "conspiracy theories" are not misinformation, they're just early. But lets go ahead and censor them all, lets ensure the government, corporations and the corporate media can keep pushing a narrative that changes with the direction of the wind. People love it, like a donkey with a carrot on a string.

No-one was banned for saying it came from a lab. Or the rest, They were banned for saying the vaccine was unsafe or a time bomb for made to make vampires or made to make people child molester directors, and adrenochrome, and forced eugeneics .. blah blah etc. convincing weak minded dolts and old people to not get vaxed and subsequently die.

But I'm over that now .

DON'T get a vax republicans, get sick and die and lose your vote.
DON'T wear a mask republicans, get sick and die and lose your vote.
The election WAS STOLEN 100%, so stop voting republicans it don't matter ..
KEEP THOSE RIGHTS .. we need less republican votes.