Reddit has banned the Trump-backing subreddit r/donaldtrump for inciting violence, in the latest crackdown against Trump and his supporters on social media after some of those supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.
- Anyone visiting the subreddit Friday was met with a message saying: “This community was banned due to a violation of Reddit’s rules against inciting violence,” with Reddit linking to those rules.
- As of Thursday, the subreddit had over 52,000 members, and prominently featured a link to the now-disabled website trumpmarch.com, featuring an image of Trump as Uncle Sam and saying “POTUS wants you in D.C. on 1/06/21.”
- The subreddit represented one of the larger Trump-supporting communities that could be found on the internet, with some spillover from a previous subreddit, r/The_Donald, which became one of the most active Reddit communities with nearly 800,000 subscribers before it was banned in June of 2020 for harassment.
Crucial Quote
“Do not post content that encourages, glorifies, incites or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people,” Reddit warns in its rules against violent content.
Key Background
Trump and his supporters have faced unprecedented backlash from tech companies after the insurrection attempt at the Capitol on Wednesday, which was organized well in advance by Trump-backing circles online. Trump himself was banned from Twitter after rioters made their way into the Capitol on Wednesday, before being allowed back on the platform on Wednesday. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have also been shut down for at least the next two weeks. Snapchat and Twitch have also disabled accounts from the president, while platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Shopify have also taken action against Trump.
What to Watch For
Trump supporters have continued to find outlets to gather as an online community despite bans placed by mainstream tech sites. Notably, supporters gravitated toward the Reddit-esque forum thedonald.win after r/The_Donald was banned. Several other “alternative” social media sites have also gained popularity as of late, like Parler, Rumble and Wimkin.
