Reddit bans COVID-19 misinformation forum following site-wide protests

Social news aggregation and discussion website Reddit has reportedly banned an active subreddit created for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. The decision comes after several other subreddits demanded that the site administrators act against the brazen spread of false news about the pandemic as well as vaccinations.

An admin post confirmed that a ‘pronounced’ increase in denial of COVID-19 had been noticed since July 2021 - the same month state and federal governments started mandating vaccinations for employees.

But the main grounds for banning the subreddit named r/NoNewNormal, was its association with over 80 brigades. For the unversed, a brigade culminates in the participants of one subreddit swarming into different subreddits to antagonize other users.

The Reddit admin also claimed that 54 other subreddits are expected to be quarantined, which will mean that they won't be visible on the website’s search results, and will not show up in certain feeds, including ‘Popular’.

According to sources, several NoNewNormal members continued their misbehavior even after the subreddit was quarantined on 11th August.

The rapid spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic has been a major issue on social media sites. Analysts said that the vote-up system on Reddit is further encouraging users to post more attention-grabbing content.

The co-founder and CEO of Reddit, Steve Hoffman, was quoted saying that the website encourages authentic discussion & debate, and no action will be taken against subreddits that are propagating COVID misinformation.

Hoffman stated that the platform believes the CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) to be the best and most up-to-date source for information about COVID-19 and aims to link back to their website whenever possible. However, disagreeing with the CDC is not against Reddit’s policies, he claimed.

It is also worth noting that over 100 subreddits had gone dark over the past two days in protest of Reddit’s inaction on the issue.

Source Credits –

https://www.cnet.com/news/reddit-bans-active-covid-misinformation-subreddit-nonewnormal/