X ban spreads across Reddit communities after Elon Musk's inaugural gesture
Several Reddit communities have recently proposed and enacted bans on links to X, formerly known as Twitter, over a controversy involving a gesture made by the social media platform's majority shareholder, Elon Musk, at an inaugural event on Monday.
Users across various subreddits, including a Formula 1 community with nearly 5 million members, have suggested that moderators ban links to X.com in their forums with the goal of reducing the amount of traffic directed to X when links are shared in the subreddit.
Users can and are able to modify or issue their own rules within their respective forums, a Reddit spokesperson told Paste BN on Wednesday.
A moderator in the Formula 1 group announced on Tuesday that the subreddit would ban all content from X for a trial period and likely permanently. The move came a day after Musk delivered remarks at President Donald Trump's inauguration rally. At the rally, Musk slapped his right hand on his chest and then raised it up, with his palm facing down. He did it again shortly afterward.
Some have likened the gesture to a Nazi salute while others have dismissed the criticism. The Anti-Defamation League said in a post on X that it was "an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute."
While the tech billionaire has yet to address the meaning behind the gesture, Musk responded directly to a supporter on X, who said the "salute hoax was just another part of the 'dirty tricks campaign.'"
"Frankly, they need better dirty tricks," Musk wrote in an X reply. "The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."
Here's what you need to know about what's going on with possible X bans in subreddits.
Formula 1 moderators explain change
Formula 1 moderators noted that the online forum dedicated to F1 news has had content restrictions in place for "a very long time."
"There’s no doubt that over the past years, Twitter has become a low-quality source: the login requirements, the flood of bots, the prioritization of content from paying users and promotion of sensationalist content," r/Formula1 stated. "We think it’s time to try and see how the subreddit works without content from Twitter."
Reddit, the social networking platform that hosts these subreddits, said in a statement the company has "no ban on X links – there are still plenty of X links on Reddit."
"Notably, many Reddit communities also prohibit Reddit links," that statement reads. "Reddit has a longstanding commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of association."
Other subreddits join r/Formula1 in X ban
Other subreddits have implemented an X ban in recent days. Two other sports-focused subreddits, r/LiverpoolFC and r/CHIBears, have had users propose X bans, citing a misalignment in values.
"Seen this on a few other football club subreddits - seems like a no-brainer to me, especially given the values of our club," a user in the r/LiverpoolFC subreddit wrote. They received nearly 40,000 upvotes. A similar conversation occurred in the r/CHIBears subreddit.
All three subreddits are ranked in the "top 1%" of communities on Reddit, but only r/Formula1 has over a million users. There are about 582,000 users in r/Liverpool while r/CHIBears hosts about 378,000 users.
Users from a Chess subreddit, r/Chess, and one for Dungeons and Dragons lovers, r/DnD, have posed a similar request to moderators in their respective forums.
Contributing: Paste BN's Davis Winkie and Will Carless