Published 12:28 IST, June 30th 2020
Reddit bans largest pro-Trump subreddit, Twitch suspends his campaign channel
Reddit and Twitch have become the latest companies to join the list of social media platforms to ban pro-Trump accounts aimed at curbing hate speech on the web.
- World News
- 3 min read
Reddit and Twitch have become the latest companies to join the list of social media platforms to ban pro-Trump accounts in order to curb hate speech on the internet. Reddit on June 29 announced that it is initially banning about 2,000 subreddits, including r/The_Donald, which had over 790,000 subscribers as of earlier Monday and was used by the US President Donald Trump's supporter. Reddit said it banned r/The_Donald because it has consistently hosted and upvoted rule-breaking content, antagonizing other communities, and its mods have refused to meet the company's most basic expectations.
"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. 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. 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," Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced in a post.
Meanwhile, Twitch, a video streaming platform, has temporarily suspended Donald Trump's official campaign channel for posting videos that were against the company's rules as it promoted discrimination based on an individual's identity. The company spokesperson said that the channel violated its rules by rebroadcasting a 2015 video from one of Donald Trump's election campaign events, where the President referred to Mexican immigrants as "rapists". The spokesperson also said that another video on the channel that violated the company's policy was from Trump's most recent rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20.
Twitter flagged Trump's tweet
Twitter Inc has been flagging some of Donald Trump's tweets recently, which according to the company were either 'manipulative' or contained objectionable contents. Snap Inc that runs Snapchat said that it will no longer promote Trump's account in its Discover category. YouTube also terminated some far-right channels from its platform over hate speech violations that included former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's account. Facebook, however, is the only major social media company left, which hasn't taken any action regarding growing hate content on its platform. Many advertisers including Unilever, Starbucks, and Pepsico have decided to pause advertising across social media platforms in wake of them not taking any action to stop hate speech on their platforms.
Updated 12:28 IST, June 30th 2020