Reddit has banned two high-profile alt-right subreddits over doxing, the act of uncovering and publishing personal information of others without their consent, usually to incite harassment. The two subreddits in question - r/altright and r/alternativeright - have both been inaccessible for the last few hours.
A notice on the r/altright subreddits reads:
This subreddit was banned due to a violation of our content policy, specifically, the proliferation of personal and confidential information.
Reddit elaborated on their decision to ban these subreddits in a statement, which said that both communities repeatedly violated Reddit's terms of service. In particular, publishing personal information is clearly against Reddit's content policy and is grounds for a ban. Reddit's full statement is as follows:
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.
The "alt-right" is specific subsection of the political far-right that is mostly made up of white nationalists. People who follow alt-right ideologies are often accused of being racist and xenophobic, and the community has used Reddit to promote these beliefs while harassing those with differing views. Reddit clearly believes this harassment has stepped over the line.
Like most communities banned from Reddit, r/altright posters have already shifted across to Voat, a website almost solely dedicated to preserving discussions deemed too inappropriate for Reddit. So while Reddit has decided to clean up their community and prevent harassment, it won't be too hard for alt-right supporters to continue doxing people through other forums.