other discussions (77)
Update to Our Content Policy(self)
21.3k points21.3k points21.3k points submitted 6 months ago * by spez[A] 3 2 5 4 2 6 3 10 2 3 2 2 9 5 4 4 5 3 2 7 10 7 2 13 3 11 3 30 8& 174 more
A few weeks ago, we committed to closing the gap between our values and our policies to explicitly address hate. After talking extensively with mods, outside organizations, and our own teams, we're updating our content policy today and enforcing it (with your help).
First, a quick recap
Since our last post, here's what we've been doing:
We brought on a new Board member.
We held policy calls with mods—both from established Mod Councils and from communities disproportionately targeted with hate—and discussed areas where we can do better to action bad actors, clarify our policies, make mods' lives easier, and concretely reduce hate.
You can find detailed notes from our All-Council mod call here, including specific product work we discussed.
We developed our enforcement plan, including both our immediate actions (e.g., today's bans) and long-term investments (tackling the most critical work discussed in our mod calls, sustainably enforcing the new policies, and advancing Reddit's community governance).
From our conversations with mods and outside experts, it's clear that while we've gotten better in some areas—like actioning violations at the community level, scaling enforcement efforts, measurably reducing hateful experiences like harassment year over year—we still have a long way to go to address the gaps in our policies and enforcement to date.
These include addressing questions our policies have left unanswered (like whether hate speech is allowed or even protected on Reddit), aspects of our product and mod tools that are still too easy for individual bad actors to abuse (inboxes, chats, modmail), and areas where we can do better to partner with our mods and communities who want to combat the same hateful conduct we do.
Ultimately, it's our responsibility to support our communities by taking stronger action against those who try to weaponize parts of Reddit against other people. In the near term, this support will translate into some of the product work we discussed with mods. But it starts with dealing squarely with the hate we can mitigate today through our policies and enforcement.
New Policy
This is the new content policy. Here's what's different:
It starts with a statement of our vision for Reddit and our communities, including the basic expectations we have for all communities and users.
Rule 1 explicitly states that communities and users that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned.
There is an expanded definition of what constitutes a violation of this rule, along with specific examples, in our Help Center article.
Rule 2 ties together our previous rules on prohibited behavior with an ask to abide by community rules and post with authentic, personal interest.
Debate and creativity are welcome, but spam and malicious attempts to interfere with other communities are not.
The other rules are the same in spirit but have been rewritten for clarity and inclusiveness.
Alongside the change to the content policy, we are initially banning about 2000 subreddits, the vast majority of which are inactive. Of these communities, about 200 have more than 10 daily users. Both r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse were included.
All communities on Reddit must abide by our content policy in good faith. We banned r/The_Donald because it has not done so, despite every opportunity. The community has consistently hosted and upvoted more rule-breaking content than average (Rule 1), antagonized us and other communities (Rules 2 and 8), and its mods have refused to meet our most basic expectations. Until now, we've worked in good faith to help them preserve the community as a space for its users—through warnings, mod changes, quarantining, and more.
Though smaller, r/ChapoTrapHouse was banned for similar reasons: They consistently host rule-breaking content and their mods have demonstrated no intention of reining in their community.
To be clear, views across the political spectrum are allowed on Reddit—but all communities must work within our policies and do so in good faith, without exception.
Our policies will never be perfect, with new edge cases that inevitably lead us to evolve them in the future. And as users, you will always have more context, community vernacular, and cultural values to inform the standards set within your communities than we as site admins or any AI ever could.
But just as our content moderation cannot scale effectively without your support, you need more support from us as well, and we admit we have fallen short towards this end. We are committed to working with you to combat the bad actors, abusive behaviors, and toxic communities that undermine our mission and get in the way of the creativity, discussions, and communities that bring us all to Reddit in the first place. We hope that our progress towards this commitment, with today's update and those to come, makes Reddit a place you enjoy and are proud to be a part of for many years to come.
Edit: After digesting feedback, we made a clarifying change to our help center article for Promoting Hate Based on Identity or Vulnerability.
q&a (suggested)
SunkenRectorship 249 points250 points251 points 6 months ago
This is the entirety of what most of Reddit thinks about conservatives/republicans around the world. Reducing their political opponents to caricatures obfuscates their need to actually argue their points.
[deleted] 169 points170 points171 points 6 months ago
nordoceltic82 6 points7 points8 points 5 months ago
In wartime an one of the biggest goals of propaganda is to de-humanize the enemy side and stoke as much xenophobia as possible so that the nation's soldiers won't see the other side as human, and thus wont' feel guilty over killing them, or committing atrocity against the other nation's innocent civilians.
Far as I can see that is exactly what is going in the state now with its politics having descended into a political war that is counting the days before the shooting starts.
yoyowarrior -27 points-26 points-25 points 6 months ago
Being a racist or sexist isn't just a difference in opinion. It literally means you don't accept other human beings for what they are. If people are gonna complain about being dehumanised, they should stop and look at themselves first. If they want to be accepted, then learn to accept others too. Otherwise, they get exactly what they project unto others. You can't have your cake and eat it too. There's bound to be backlash if your community projects hatred. Like there is now with these extreme left wingers. Both sides are escalating things, justified by their cause. Everyone needs to calm down and think about what they're doing instead of operating on pure instinct and hate.
shirakou1 16 points17 points18 points 6 months ago
You are presuming these people are actually racist or sexist; in fact you are giving the exact same response so many people get when they complain about being dehumanized and called names: "oH tHeN jUsT sToP bEiNg RaCiSt" as if it's a foregone conclusion. Well over 90% of the time it's bullshit. "Spreading hatred" is a nebulous term that is so malleable these days it is almost impossible to actually point out somebody being hateful because it is lost in the sea of so many false "hateful people" flagged because of a misinterpretation of an opinion. The main point he is making is that any shred of deviation from the narrative runs the risk of being persona non grata, which is absolutely true.
If I believe that total sexual liberation is not healthy for a society and will negatively affect women in the long run, I hate women (whether I am consciously aware of it or not) and want them (figuratively) chained to the kitchen popping out as many kids as possible.
If I believe the problems facing the United States aren't as simple as All Cops Are Bastards and white man bad, I am a privileged asshole who is part of the problem of white systematic oppression as opposed to someone who has come to a different conclusion when presented with the same set of facts.
If I believe racism occurs when someone is actively prejudiced towards other races no matter what race it is (i.e. you can be racist to white people), I am to be silenced for I hold all the power because of my skin colour and can be righteously hated.
These are only a few examples of issues I have encountered recently and I think any rational human should be able to look at that and gleam from it that it is a difference of opinion, a difference in direction from which to tackle societal problems irrespective of race or whatever rather than pure hatred.
However, it seems like being given the benefit of the doubt is a luxury people like me do not have in today's political discourse.
yoyowarrior 0 points1 point2 points 6 months ago
These "generalisations" are made by the other side too. People who actually want to discuss issues in a well articulated manner can do so. If you get shut down for that, then it's an individual issue. Whether you're left or right, it doesn't matter. The person you're talking to is simply unreasonable. My point is that people who are blatantly racist or sexist don't have the right to cry about being dehumanised. The difference here is between people that say "Studies have shown that a lax immigration law will adversely effect a country's will adversely effect the crime rate of said country, can we discuss this?" vs people who scream "(Insert derogatory term) should fuck off to their own country!". Unfortunately, the bigots that parrot the latter phrases, ruin it for the rest. And I'll be honest, there are a lot more bigots than there are reasonable people so it often doesn't help the situation.
»continue this thread
Moose_Canuckle -8 points-7 points-6 points 6 months ago
If the party you affiliate yourself with openly had neonazis under its tent and you still brand yourself with that party, you're a willing participant in a racist group, making you a racist. It's pretty fuckin simple.
Mr_Animemeguy -5 points-4 points-3 points 6 months ago
A fat fact
grubas -7 points-6 points-5 points 6 months ago
Considering that you managed to miss that Republican means something entirely different you're not helping.
SunkenRectorship 8 points9 points10 points 6 months ago
I'm saying that reddit sees republican/conservative as the same thing, and considers them to all be rednecks. Regardless of context.
idlevalley 0 points1 point2 points 6 months ago
Well, you're right about generalizations, but not too many rednecks vote democrat.
Not all republicans are white supremacists, but most white supremacists are republican. There is a correlation.
Shudderfli 0 points1 point2 points 6 months ago
Correlation ≠ Causation.