Reddit Bans Gruesome Subreddits Following New Zealand Shooting Video
Reddit permanently bans r/watchpeopledie and r/gore after users repeatedly share the violent video of the New Zealand mosque massacre. The crackdown highlights ongoing struggles across major social media platforms to quickly remove extremist content.
Reddit bans two of its most gruesome subreddits, r/watchpeopledie and r/gore, after users repeatedly share the horrific video of the New Zealand mosque shooting. The communities, which routinely feature images and videos of people dying, officially face bans for violating the site's policy against glorifying or encouraging violence.
A Reddit spokesperson states that the platform strictly enforces its rules against content that incites violence, ensuring that both users and communities face bans for non-compliance. This permanent removal follows a September 2018 decision to quarantine these specific subreddits, a move that previously required users to explicitly opt-in to view the upsetting material.
The viral spread of the gunman's video forces Reddit and other major tech companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to scramble to delete the footage. This tragic event prompts renewed public demands for social media platforms to implement faster and more effective moderation to rid their networks of gruesome extremist content.