The Wild World of Reddit

While the mega social media platforms claim to tamp down so-called radicalism, a plethora of posts on Reddit would make these same “community standards” people blush. For those unfamiliar with Reddit, it advertises itself as a place where one can “Dive into anything.” That is certainly true, but you must be careful where to springboard; otherwise, you may land on cement rather than water.

This appears to be the case for those on the political right, though some on the left also have had their heads chopped off. But even a cursory review of the site reveals it hosts a hotbed of radical leftists who get daily approval from Reddit’s moderators.

It’s the Mods, Stupid

Reddit is operated by volunteer moderators (mods) who reply to posted comments with a thumbs up or down. The more thumbs up one gets, the higher the ranking on the platform. It’s a relatively simple system that sounds like a good idea until these politically driven mods abuse their power and become hellbent on drowning out one side of the political discourse.

This is what an author who writes under the pseudonym “Reddit Lies” claimed in a lengthy article published by The Federalist. “Reddit’s fundamental reliance on upvotes over an algorithm produces an unstable equilibrium in the hands of bad-faith moderators. This creates an incredible echo chamber made up of subreddits, which create groups of individuals who will gladly throw away their empathy as long as they view themselves as a ‘bastion of good’ fighting those who are ontologically evil,” the author wrote.

Reading Reddit

Reddit Lies found much evidence to back up that premise. So, we hopped on over to Reddit to see what’s what. From the front page, we scrolled down to a subreddit called r/politics. The first stop was an article published by the Independent titled “New poll reveals voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist.” At 2 pm on June 19, there were more than 5,000 comments. Here’s a small sample:

Trump is a criminal and old

And fascist too.

Oh s*** he’s all three.

Trump is the trifecta though.

Trump is also old as f*** too. It’s rich seeing Trump morons blather on about old Biden.

The Federalist pointed out, “Users of these subreddits will often get showered with upvotes for making absurd claims like ‘The GOP are all fascist traitors’ that quickly devolve into people advocating for violence against any and all individuals on the political right. In that situation, moderators are often the only thing capable of preventing a politicized subreddit from spiraling into insanity.”

Generally, the mods post a warning that goes something like this: “Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.” Despite this admonition, the author posted a series of screenshots with the following radical content:

“Can someone just please, for the love of god, shoot [conservative commentator’s name removed] in the head? At this point, it’s immoral not to.”

“Can we give violence a chance? Peace sure isn’t working. Only a matter of time until the GOP seeks to seize power with guns. Tell Biden to get those drones in the air.”

“Violence is the answer. Evil of this magnitude has never been dispelled without blood in the streets. It is the only way.”

Does it come as any surprise that the man who attempted to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sought approval from other commenters on a subreddit? He was eventually taken into custody in the vicinity of Kavanaugh’s home – whose address was posted on Reddit. He was found “with a Glock, zip ties, a tactical knife, pepper spray, a hammer, a screwdriver, a nail punch, a crowbar, and duct tape,” according to The Federalist.

The web forum appears to have become a cauldron of radicalism by permitting the ratcheting up of anti-right rhetoric. Those of us who believe in free thinking and free speech aren’t suggesting these people be silenced, but it would be negligent not to point out leftist radicalization seems to run rampant on Reddit.