Many Reddit users are boycotting the social media site
Mr Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform, was speaking at a celebratory gathering after Mr Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president on Monday when he snorted, put his hand over his heart and said: Raise his arm with the palm facing down In Hail to the public.
Although Musk downplayed the criticism, speculation about the gesture’s meaning has erupted online, including on Reddit, where people gather in thousands of forums known as subreddits to discuss niche interests, including hobbies, sports, celebrity gossip and geopolitical affairs. .
By Tuesday, a proposal had appeared in dozens of Reddit groups across a wide range of interests: Several users wanted a ban on linking to X’s posts as a way to boycott the platform and Mr. Musk.
One of the moderators of one of the subforums dedicated to Formula 1 racing said this That would block the content From X “for a trial period.” Links from X are now blocked as well r/njThat forum’s moderators said in a post that was accompanied by a photo of Mr. Musk emblazoned with a red block symbol. (Other place-focused forums have similar posts.) TwoXChromosomes, A The space focuses on women’s perspectivessaid the bot will remove X links automatically. This announcement received thousands of approval votes.
By Wednesday morning, organizers of broad-based groups were focusing on cities and sports teams, Board games The economy was discussing or polling its members’ appetite for a possible boycott of X. Users who supported one of them mentioned several reasons, the most important of which was the retreat from Mr. Musk after his appearance at the inauguration ceremony. Others said they felt frustrated with Mr. Musk for a while because of this Convert it to X and His views on politics and other matters.
Mr Musk appeared to refuse to explain his gesture later on Monday, sharing a post by a user on X who called the “greeting hoax” part of a Democratic “campaign of dirty tricks” against him. “Honestly, they need better dirty tricks.” Mr. Musk added. “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is very tiring.”
As momentum built on Reddit to boycott Others said the gesture was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and pointed to accusations that X was spreading misinformation or had simply become difficult to use.
“There is no doubt that over the past years Twitter has become a low-quality source.” Moderators The Formula 1 group said, citing X prioritizing posts from paying users and “promoting exciting content.” They said feedback from their community prompted them to take this step.
But the boycott was divisive. Some users raised questions about censorship and freedom of expression, with Mr Musk’s supporters calling it a coordinated campaign against him. some Conservatives in another forum They said the boycott would encourage them to abandon Reddit instead.
Jarrod Maynard, a moderator of one of the groups proposing to ban X-links, said the boycott is not censorship but a “community response” to ethical concerns. “Reddit’s moderators and members do not ban ideas, content, or discussions originating from Twitter. Instead, they have simply chosen to stop driving traffic and ad revenue to the platform,” he added.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment while Reddit said it was not company policy to boycott X.
“Reddit has a long-standing commitment to free expression and freedom of association,” a Reddit spokeswoman said on Wednesday. She added that Reddit does not ban links from X, noting that many of these links still exist. The spokeswoman said communities were free to propose their own rules, and many had previously blocked social media links for various reasons.
Reddit was once considered one of the darkest parts of the internet He turned around In recent years to become a useful resource for people looking for news, entertainment and personal advice. Its chief executive, Steve Huffman, has maintained a lower profile than his predecessors and other social media figures such as Mr Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta.
Reddit’s embrace of volunteer moderators, along with monitoring harassment and other toxic behavior, has helped change how users interact on its forums.
“It’s the public square. It’s where people come together these days, and it’s where people can organize,” said David Dunning, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, who has studied political beliefs and polarization.
Professor Dunning said the boycott could reveal insights into how people respond to political polarization. But whether it will have an impact or not depends on the answers to critical questions, he said.
“The first is, how many communities is this spreading into?” He said. “The second is, how long does it last? Both of those dimensions are really important.
