Elon Musk isn’t any fan of content material moderation. When Musk acquired Twitter again in 2022, one of many driving forces behind his decision to purchase the social media platform was content material moderation, particularly involving bans on right-wing accounts that he preferred.
Now, Musk seems to be attempting to exert management over content material moderation on social media platforms he does not even personal.
In accordance with a new report in The Verge, Musk privately contacted Reddit CEO Steve Huffman relating to content material on the social sharing platform.
Shortly after the correspondence between Musk and Huffman, a thread about DOGE workers was deleted. The subreddit the place the thread was began, r/WhitePeopleTwitter, was additionally banned for 72 hours.
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Earlier than Musk reached out to the Reddit CEO, the proprietor of X went on a public tirade towards Reddit. Amongst his complaints, Musk claimed that sure Reddit customers had “damaged the regulation” for posting unsavory feedback about DOGE workers. The Reddit feedback referenced Musk’s publish seem to belong to the Reddit thread that the corporate deleted after Musk reached out.
Whereas Reddit beforehand made it recognized that it took action towards “violent content material,” it wasn’t recognized till now that Musk had personally filed a criticism with the corporate’s CEO.
Musk has additionally referred to as it “insane” that some subreddits had banned the power to publish hyperlinks to X. It is unclear if Musk introduced that criticism up in his messages with Huffman. As of publishing, no motion has been taken towards subreddits that do not permit X hyperlinks.
Whereas a few of the feedback within the thread may very well be perceived as threatening and brought down regardless, it is regarding that Musk could make non-public requests to CEOs of third-party corporations relating to content material selections.
“We take any report of Reddit coverage violations severely, whether or not on Reddit straight or by way of different public or non-public means,” Reddit mentioned in a press release supplied to The Verge. “We are going to consider content material reported to us and take motion if it violates.”
