Reddit bans anti-vaccine subreddit r/NoNewNormal after site-wide protest

Reddit has banned anti-vaccine and anti-mask subreddit r/NoNewNormal and has quarantined 54 different subreddits related to COVID denial. Every week in the past, the company’s CEO said in a post that Reddit was meant to be a spot of “open and authentic discussion and debate,” even for concepts that “question or disagree with popular consensus.” In in the present day’s put up, the corporate has clarified its guidelines with regard to well being misinformation.

The subreddit NoNewNormal has been cited by many within the Reddit neighborhood as a supply of vaccine misinformation, and it was recognized for “brigading” different subreddit’s discussions by butting in on conversations about COVID or associated insurance policies in different communities. NoNewNormal was the supply of 80 such brigades up to now month, according to Reddit security, and the habits continued after the neighborhood was warned, resulting in its ban. The neighborhood had previously been quarantined. For the 54 different subreddits which were quarantined, Reddit warns potential guests that medical recommendation ought to come from medical doctors quite than discussion board members.

Reddit, together with different social networks and on-line marketplaces, has struggled with misinformation about COVID therapies in latest weeks. The platform has guidelines that search to deal with the considerations however admits the way it was decoding and imposing these guidelines hasn’t been clear. In in the present day’s announcement, it said that it classifies well being misinformation as “falsifiable health information that encourages or poses a significant risk of physical harm to the reader.” It additionally says that well being disinformation means “falsifiable health information that has been manipulated and presented to mislead” and offers the instance of posting pretend recommendation attributed to well being officers.

In its put up, Reddit cites customers’ frustration with the platform’s “handling of COVID denial content.” Recently, a large number of Reddit’s most popular subs have been going personal, hiding their posts from individuals who aren’t subscribed to them, to protest the corporate’s inaction. The motion was partially spurred by the unfold of misinformation round ivermectin — a drug whose veterinary type meant for livestock has been really helpful as a treatment for COVID, regardless of the Food and Drug Administration’s warnings that utilizing medication for animals might be harmful.

Even earlier than Reddit’s announcement in the present day, some customers had been attempting to take the scenario into their very own fingers — /r/Ivermectin has been spammed with shitposts, calls for trans rights, and furry porn involving horses. (The hyperlink is a fairly SFW rationalization.) The latter bought the sub marked as NSFW, and the flurry of posts has made it troublesome to carry conversations on the now-quarantined neighborhood.