Reddit technology section downgraded after words such as ‘National Security Agency’, ‘Bitcoin’ and ‘Snowden’ banned
Reddit technology section, r/technology, became downgraded yesterday, after moderators used a filter to censor ‘controversial’ headlines using words such as "Bitcoin," "Anonymous," "Obama," "National Security Agency", “CIA” and "Snowden.”.
Despite over five million Reddit users following r/technology, the section will now no longer be a default subreddit, meaning that people will no longer be pointed to the section from the Reddit homepage, and will not be suggested to new users.
This move seems to be a slap on the wrist from Reddit to make the moderators do their job and actually moderate.
"The moderation team lost focus of what they were there to do: moderate effectively," Reddit communications director Victoria Taylor told the BBC. "We might consider adding them back in the future if they can show us and the community that they can overcome these issues."
The issue was first pointed out by Reddit user Creq, who said “I have identified a list of keywords that are banned from /r/technology. Putting one in the title of a post will result in that post not showing up in the feed.”
It is believed that moderators began the filter so that they would not have to deal with conversations on controversial topics.