I lurked Reddit for a long time before creating an account which is now over 6 years old. I was a ‘Top Contributor’ and in the rewards program. 89k karma, never promoted violence or targeted any group, but I got a 7-day ban which was followed up hours later with a permanent ban. This is because of a comment criticizing Senator Radcliffe, trump, and Musk. The comment included profanity, (I called them hypocrites and cunts), but it wasn’t directed at any user or marginalized group. Just harsh political commentary.
Reddit initially issued a 7-day ban, which I appealed. That appeal was approved, the comment was restored, and they admitted it didn’t violate the rules. But the permanent ban still stands, and my follow-up appeals on that have been ignored. No explanation. No transparency. Just gone.
It’s made me realize how fragile “free speech” is on platforms like Reddit. You can insult regular users and get away with it, say horrendously racist, misogynistic, and homophobic things, but speak too plainly about powerful people and suddenly you’re promoting “hate.”
I combed through the Reddit rules, and nothing I have ever commented or posted violates them.
That’s the reason I’m here on Lemmy now. I’m trying to read more, scroll less, and engage with platforms that aren’t actively censoring political dissent. Who else is in the same boat? Is there anything that can be done to hold Reddit accountable or make people aware of they way they are censoring speech? This is my first Lemmy post. I marked it NSFW because of the profanity.
Permabanned for asking what Eisenhower would do if he was present at a Nazi march in Wisconsin and someone handed him a machine gun.
Apparently, impossible hypotheticals (Eisenhower is long dead) intended as a commentary on the fascist shift of the republican party (Eisenhower was a republican) are advocating violence. Eisenhower famously led efforts to kill Nazis.
So here I am.
Part of me wants to engage in ban evasion and just post hate all over reddit to make it worse. What are they going to do? Ban me? Too lazy to bother though.
Ridiculous. Especially when you consider the other content that is perfectly acceptable. Doesn’t help that a very small number of mods control the majority of the subs now. I feel you on the hate-posting. I’m inclined to do the same thing because of the one-sided nature of the ban and my need to express my displeasure and sense of injustice.