Reddit bans five groups as part of anti-harassment policy
Online forum Reddit has removed five groups – or subreddits, as it calls them – that it says break the company’s anti-harassment rules.
‘Fat People Hate,’ a fat-shaming subreddit, was the largest of the five to be banned. It had more than 5,000 subscribers.
In a blog post yesterday, CEO Ellen Pao and other execs said that they “will ban subreddits that allow their communities to use the subreddit as a platform to harass individuals when moderators don’t take action. We’re banning behavior, not ideas.”
The move has raised a lot of questions around censorship. Some have said that the policy takes away from free speech.
Today I learned that most of #Reddit doesn't understand the definition of Freedom of Speech. #RedditRevolt
— Melissa K-Smith (@FrenchFryWife) June 11, 2015
Last month, Reddit announced its plans to better curb harassment on the site.