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Elon Musk’s recent conflict with Reddit also involved direct messages and led to consequences on the platform.
According to a new report from The Verge, Musk personally contacted Reddit’s CEO, Steve Huffman, after Reddit users criticized him and blocked links to X/Twitter.
Shortly after this, Reddit made moderation decisions that seemed to align with Musk’s concerns.
The dispute started in January when Musk made a controversial gesture at an event following Donald Trump’s inauguration, with many believing it resembled a Nazi salute.
This sparked backlash on Reddit, with over 100 subreddits banning posts that linked to X. In response, Musk began attacking Reddit publicly, calling the site “insane.”
He then escalated the situation by accusing Reddit users of making illegal threats against employees of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Behind the scenes, Musk messaged Huffman directly. Although it’s unknown exactly what was said, within a day, Reddit took action by banning the subreddit r/WhitePeopleTwitter for 72 hours.
The official reason given was “a prevalence of violent content.” While some posts Musk had flagged were removed, so were many other posts that were simply critical of him and DOGE, regardless of whether they contained threats or not.
When asked about Musk’s private messages influencing Reddit’s decision, the company responded with a broad statement saying they take all reports of policy violations seriously, whether they come from public sources or private conversations.
The situation sparked debate among Reddit moderators, many of whom discussed the issue on Discord.
Some felt that removing violent content was the right decision, but others were concerned about the influence Musk had in the process.
Reddit claims to enforce its policies fairly, but Musk’s ability to get swift action by directly messaging the CEO raises questions.
It suggests that personal relationships at the highest levels may have more impact on platform decisions than Reddit is willing to admit.
What do you think about this incident? Do you think Musk should focus on ruining just one social platform at once? We want to hear your opinions below in the comments, or via our Twitter or Facebook.
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