In a move that has raised eyebrows and criticism, Reddit administrators have threatened to remove moderators who are participating in the virtual blackout protest. The protest involves the shutting down of thousands of Reddit communities to protest changes to the site’s API.
According to The Verge, Reddit admins have reached out to protesting moderators urging them to work or be removed from their roles. The message sent to moderators stated that if there are mods willing to work towards reopening their community, the admins are willing to work with them to achieve this goal. If mods higher up the list are hindering reopening, the admins are willing to process a Top Mod Removal request or reorder the mod team.
Critics argue that the move is punishing users for protesting changes to the platform. The Verge reported that thousands of moderators shut down their Reddit pages to protest the company’s new pricing policy for third-party apps that use its API. The blackout affected more than 8,000 Reddit pages at its peak, and over 4,000 are still dark.
In a Reddit thread discussing the blackout, users and admins discussed how privatizing major subreddits may violate the site’s internal Moderator Code of Conduct. Rule 2 of the Moderator Code of Conduct requires mods to set appropriate expectations for what users may find in a particular subreddit, and Rule 4 requires active content moderation. Neither mentions what may happen in the case of protests or staged demonstrations.
The move by Reddit admins has caused some users to question the fairness of the Moderator Code of Conduct. One user commented, “When rules like these are broken, we remove the mods in violation of the Moderator Code of Conduct, and add new, active mods to the subreddits.” However, many users have challenged this idea, stating that the rules were not fairly applied to protesting subreddit communities.
Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt has denied that administrators threatened anyone, stating that “pressuring people is not our goal.” Rathschmidt added that there are a ton of mods that want to turn their subs back to being public and are asking for help to do so. He noted that site officials didn’t limit their outreach to mods that reached out to them first, but did not specify their criteria for which mods received the message and which didn’t.
In the end, the move by Reddit admins has caused controversy and criticism from users. While the company has stated that they are simply upholding their Moderator Code of Conduct, many users believe that this move is an attempt to silence the voices of those who are protesting changes to the platform.
Overall, the situation on Reddit is a reminder that even virtual protests can have real-world consequences. As the platform continues to evolve and change, it will be interesting to see how users respond and how companies like Reddit navigate the delicate balance between upholding their policies and allowing users to express their opinions.
References
- https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/16/23763538/reddit-blackout-api-protest-mod-replacement-threat
- https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-blackout-48-hour-what-you-need-to-know-2023-6
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/14a5lz5/comment/jo9wdol/?context=3
- https://www.redditinc.com/policies/moderator-code-of-conduct
- https://www.platformer.news/p/reddit-goes-dark?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=7976&post_id=127792922&isFreemail=true&utm_m
- https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/8/23754304/instagram-meta-twitter-competitor-threads-activitypub
- https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-plans-to-boot-protesting-moderators-over-inactivity-2023-6
