Musk pressured Reddit CEO to remove posts he didn't like
What's the story
Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X, privately reached out to Reddit's CEO Steve Huffman over content moderation concerns, according to The Verge. The revelation comes just two months after several subreddits started blocking links to X in protest of Musk's perceived Nazi salute. At the time, a Reddit spokesperson clarified that the platform itself wasn't imposing a ban on these links.
Subreddit bans
Musk's private conversation with Huffman and Reddit's response
After Musk and Huffman's private chat, Reddit slapped a 72-hour ban on the r/WhitePeopleTwitter subreddit for its "prevalence of violent content." The r/WhitePeopleTwitter subreddit, which has over three million followers, mainly consists of users screenshotting posts from Bluesky and X. Another subreddit, r/IsElonDeadYet, was completely banned for violating rules against posting violent content.
Moderator response
Reddit moderators react to Musk-Huffman conversation
According to The Verge, some Reddit moderators were aware of the conversation between Musk and Huffman. In response to a user suggesting Musk could call out death threats, one moderator expressed discomfort about his influence on both public and private institutions. This highlights the complexity of content moderation decisions and their potential implications for platform users.
Criticism
Musk's controversial stance on content moderation
Musk has been vocal about his criticism of content moderation on social media platforms, especially since he acquired Twitter (now X) in 2022. He has rolled back several trust and safety policies during his time. Ironically, while pushing for less censorship, he has been known to restrict links to other platforms on X. This paradoxical behavior only adds to the conversation around content moderation in today's digital world.