Musk 'Pressured' Reddit CEO to Silence DOGE Critics, Leaving Moderators Outraged: Report
www.latintimes.com
Billionaire Tesla CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk allegedly pressured the CEO of social media platform Reddit to stifle users criticizing him or President Donald Trump, leaving platform moderators furious.

They exchanged messages just before the subreddit r/WhitePeopleofTwitter was given a temporary ban for 72 hours

    • droans@midwest.socialEnglish
      9·
      9 days ago

      There was that peak time back in the 2010s. Right after they got rid of all the worst hate communities but before they were taken over by astroturfing.

      Maybe like 2014-2015ish?

    • fmtx@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      5·
      9 days ago

      Same. Joined at the Digg migration. Left at the 3rd party App-ocolypse. Reddit is dead. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it’s a zombie: with more bots than actual human users, it’s the Dead Internet Theory in action.

      • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        9 days ago

        Exactly the two events that got me on and off Reddit. I use LibRedirect to rewrite any reddit links to proxies that only work about 15% of the time, and it really discourages me from even bothering…

  • MyMotherIsAHamster@lemmy.caEnglish
    21·
    10 days ago

    I got a lifetime IP ban on Reddit for saying “Fuck Elon Musk all the way to hell” - so fuck Reddit, fuck DOGE, and especially fuck Elon.

  • Smerk@lemmy.studioEnglish
    20·
    9 days ago

    There has been unwarranted censorship at a scale I’ve never seen on Reddit I thought it was the last bastion of free speech

    While actual hate speech and seriously harmful content goes completely unchecked

    It is unfortunate

    Steve Bannon isnt welcome in Colorado. Phil Long Auditorium shouldn’t host nazis. I was banned for saying as much from Fucking Reddit of all places Pointing out that there have been fires at dealerships lately does not equate to harrasment Phil Long Auditorium should not host the Rally period. Their casual attitude towards white supremacy is unacceptable and while i dont believe they should necessarily be burnt to the ground, there are better places to buy automobiles They deserve to be boycotted And i will punch a nazi mod in the face 100% of the time

    Edit: UPDATE 2 PROTESTORS WERE RAN OVER BY TWO DIFFERENT HATE RALLY ATTENDEE"S CARS !!! NAZIS ARE VIOLENT PIECES OF SHIT

    Told you so r/Coloradosprings

    Fuck yall

    • DFX4509B@lemmy.orgEnglish
      7·
      9 days ago

      I’d argue Lemmy and other decentralized platforms are the last bastion for free speech instead of Reddit though.

      Like, since Lemmy, Pixelfed, Mastodon, PeerTube, and Matrix are decentralized, that naturally shields them from censorship somewhat compared to centralized platforms where you’re ultimately at the mercy of whoever runs that platform.

      • droans@midwest.socialEnglish
        5·
        9 days ago

        I’d argue Lemmy and other decentralized platforms are the last bastion for free speech instead of Reddit though.

        Lemmy is kind of forced to be, too.

        Horrific speech can be removed from the site. But if you want to see it, the admin logs are open to the public. Other instances also aren’t forced to play along with the views of one instance. And each instance can choose whether they want to connect with others.

        So you could create your own Christian Nationalist and White Supremacist Lemmy. But our instances don’t have to federate with it. And if they choose to do so, we can leave for a different one or the users can block it entirely.

        Lemmy lets anyone have a platform and, simultaneously, it doesn’t force anyone to listen to you just because you have your own platform. Basically, everything that makes Lemmy a decentralized platform also makes it good for moderation without harming free speech.

  • 9point6@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    11 days ago

    Reddit died June 2023

    I don’t know why people are still playing with the corpse

    • vrek@programming.devEnglish
      7·
      10 days ago

      I agree and haven’t returned but lemmy hasn’t hit critical mass yet… Like I don’t recall a post with over a hundred replies. Reddit used to have over a thousand on every reply on the first page.

      • kungen@feddit.nuEnglish
        9·
        10 days ago

        How many of those thousands are actual good comments though? Last time I was there, I swear the majority of comments were from bots reposting the same comments that were in previous threads. It felt peak dead-internet.

        • nighthawkx@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          10 days ago

          This is often overlooked. The conversations are great on the niche or smaller communities available on reddit and the experience is great. But for the most part, frontpage and every other sub has been taken over by repost bots or repeated jokes or politics.

        • bugg@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          10 days ago

          Hard agree. I didn’t realize how awful this felt in practice and how much I genuinely missed conversations until Lemmy.

          Every popular thread I got into the habit of ignoring the top comments because I’ve seen them 1000 before. Like being forced to watch the most unfunny 90’s sitcom.

          I realize now that I would only comment on other comments— deep in comment chains.

          Coming to Lemmy felt like the difference between trying to fish a pre-packaged snack out of a vending machine (Reddit) verses sitting down for a high quality all you can eat brunch (Lemmy).

      • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        2·
        10 days ago

        I’ve never considered that a limitation.

        You only need one other person in addition to yourself, for a good discussion.

        If anything, here I’m finding I actually get replies, because my comment didn’t drown among a hundred others.

        • 74 183.84@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          10 days ago

          You only need one other person in addition to yourself for a good discussion

          I never really thought of it like this despite it being obvious. Very well said

      • merdaverse@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        10 days ago

        I mean, does it really matter? Are you going to read 100 responses on a single post? I feel from Reddit that the larger communities get the shittier they get. More people = smaller intersection of common ground, which leads to dull content and repeating platitudes.

      • Jordan117@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        10 days ago

        Might be your settings. When I flip the front page to “Active” most of the posts have hundreds of comments (though I prefer setting it to “Top Six Hours”).

    • AntelopeRoom@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      10 days ago

      Same, once they violated certain principles, it was clear the site was dead. We need to do our best to build lemmy into something. It’ll take years.

    • iLStrix@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 days ago

      Because they have a monopoly on old and especially niche knowledge/communities (also new niche knowledge/communities). As much as I hate it, that’s why I personally still have to use reddit sometimes.

    • 52fighters@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      IMO, as much as I dislike Reddit, moderation is terrible here and there’s some niche subs that cannot exist here because of the lack of moderation.

  • xenomor@lemmy.worldEnglish
    19·
    9 days ago

    I’m old enough to remember when Elon released “the twitter files” in an attempt to demonstrate how the federal government supposedly exerted egregious pressure on private media in violation of first amendment right.

  • SunshineJogger@feddit.orgEnglish
    19·
    10 days ago

    That’s more or less why I left reddit and came to lemmy.

    This is in fact my very first post here. :)

    • Petter1@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      10 days ago

      I got here because they killed Apollo 🫶🏻 never forget

      I use Voyager now for lemmy

    • MBech@feddit.dkEnglish
      5·
      10 days ago

      I’ve been here for about a month, switching bettween this and Reddit, while still mostly using Reddit. This made me leave Reddit completely. This and getting banned for 3 days for upvoting a comment was the final straw.

      • samuelazers@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        10 days ago

        In over 2 decades of internet, i can safely say banning users for upvoting things is the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever seen a discussion board do. Just remove upvotes at this point and have the feed curated by Lord Muskrat.

      • SunshineJogger@feddit.orgEnglish
        5·
        10 days ago

        Similar final straw for me.

        I had wrote an anti putin thing under a post of Selenskyj where he stated putin will soon die, I confirmed that I hope so too and got like 400 upvotes and a hour or two later got deleted and a 3 day ban.

        • MBech@feddit.dkEnglish
          8·
          10 days ago

          Since democracy is literally built on murdering fascists and monarchs (or just authoritarians in generel), it seems pretty wild to me that it’s seen as a radical belief that they should die. If we’re forced to tolerate leaders whose claim to power is based on supressing and murdering dissidents in an effort to quash democratic thought, what in the actual fuck are we supposed to do to?

        • Psythik@lemm.eeEnglish
          3·
          10 days ago

          I’m surprised that the loss of 3rd party apps almost 2 years ago wasn’t the final straw for y’all, but either way I’m glad you finally made it here.

    • FreeHat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      10 days ago

      I’m brand new as well and hopeful but wow the smaller forums here need some love. The topic variety is small to the point where maybe straight up bot cloning subreddits here where posts on Reddit just get reposted to their Lemmy equivalent to kick start refugees feeling at home. Plus if there’s basically cross platform discussion posts it gives ground for users of existing subreddits to migrate.

    • samuelazers@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      10 days ago

      Unlike others, i didn’t get banned from Reddit, i just wanted to get a head-start learning this site, because Reddit is on the way to become X2.

  • KingCake_Baby@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    9 days ago

    I just got a temporary ban for cussing out Elon in one of the antifacist subreddits, felt good. I’m wearing this ban as a badge of honor.

    • zenitsu@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      6·
      9 days ago

      I got perma banned for calling a magat regarded and telling them to stop eating crayons, under rule 1:

      Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people. Everyone has a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying, and threats of violence. Communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned.

      lol. The small, vulnerable, and marginalized group of election winning fascists.

      • the_crotch@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        5·
        9 days ago

        regarded (sic)

        Surely you can insult musk without being ableist though? There’s 500,000 words in the English language. Choose one that doesn’t drag innocent people into it.

        • zenitsu@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          8 days ago

          It’s why I said regarded instead of retarded. I’d never call someone with a disability retarded though, it’s more appropriate for right-wingers.

          • the_crotch@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            1·
            8 days ago

            Typo/intentional misspelling aside, it’s clear from context what you meant. Here’s a fun idea, let’s not call anyone retarded. It’s a slur against a marginalized group who have nothing to do with any of this. There are plenty of other adjectives to choose from.

  • Formfiller@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    10 days ago

    Shadow banned for making a very popular post about how to make DIY Luigi Mangione prayer candles using dollar tree candles, printer and a glue stick on witches vs patriarchy