(during the pandemic i was taking nursing pre-reqs while working as a cna. i always took my assignments seriously no matter the class so here’s an essay from a critical thinking english course.)
There is a website that could potentially connect you to a community of hundreds of thousands of like-minded individuals regarding virtually every subculture imaginable. It’s called Reddit, and if that doesn’t already pique your interest, perhaps knowing its platform boasts 430 million active users every month will (Lin). Wading through a seemingly endless stream of consciousness from users worldwide, while the platform has many positive influences, it’s possible darkness exists in its deep waters. As Fullerton College students you may already understand that a place for everyone to come together also includes those who share different opinions or tendencies. On Reddit, during the Black Lives Matter movement’s reignition, activists wielded the platform to mobilize protests fighting against the opposition’s spread of misinformation, propaganda, and trolling. Should a difference of opinion or ideological values call for de-platforming specific users or communities on a website devoted to communal spaces?
As a platform, Reddit consists of a few different components with Users submitting posts inviting fellow Redditers to comment, upvote, or downvote their posts. These posts are usually made in communities called “subreddits” where special interests or specific topics are discussed. The voting system determines how popular or disliked a post or comment may be within the subreddit. According to a Reddit statistic infographic on Oberlo, about a quarter of adults in the 25 to 29 age group use this platform; however, there are also significant amounts of users in the 18 to 24 as well as the 30 to 49 age groups (Lin). There are upwards of 2.2 million subreddits to take part in among Reddit, which makes it a heavily community-based platform (Lin). Reddit posts can consist of text only, or it can include pictures and videos. Titles can either make or break the success of a user’s submission, as it is the first thing that is seen. These qualities make Reddit unique to alternative social media platforms as it is not individual user-based and instead collaborative discussion-based.
Black Lives Matter began on other platforms such as Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, with the birth of the hashtag coined by Patrisse Cullors in 2013 after the death of Trayvon Martin (Langford and Speight 78). The spread of awareness made it onto Reddit eventually and only intensified with the death of George Floyd earlier this year. No longer just a hashtag, Black Lives Matter represents a construct rebranding of how society interacts with and views Black people (88). Protests and education became weapons for the victims of racial injustice and their allies. With the recent uptick of online communities since the internet’s conception, widespread protests have never been so prevalent. Organizers for the Black Lives Matter movement only have to type out a message to mobilize thousands of supporters into action using resources like Reddit, Snapchat, and Twitter (Greenblatt 16).
On Reddit specifically, there have been positive influences in regards to Black Lives Matter, including a dedicated subreddit boasting almost 100,000 users: r/BlackLivesMatter. Having information readily at our fingertips as a modern society makes it incredibly simple to find information about racial injustice, and Reddit can be used to make it even more straight forward. Reddit user Fried_Green_Potatoes submitted a post outlining researched information on American police for those unaware, seeking education, or those not familiar with American politics. The post with hundreds of upvotes included dozens of links as a launchpad for knowledge on American police history, easily digestible video content, police accountability, research, and rights held by American citizens when apprehended by police (u/Fried_Green_Potatoes).
Even outside of r/BlackLivesMatter, there is support and information to be found. Reddit user Kaileescales posted on r/IAmA, a subreddit of 20 million users for the use of describing an occupation and answering relevant questions, identifying herself as the Managing Director for Black Lives Matter. On her post, with 23 thousand upvotes and over 2 thousand comments, she answered burning questions from the public, including controversial subjects such as defunding the police (u/Kaileescales). On another subreddit r/AskSocialScience, Reddit user Ryan_ens was able to pose a question and request information about the Black Lives Matter movement and how to educate himself as a 17-year-old male besides watching news media. An influx of comments followed with resources to aid his search for information (u/Ryan_ens). Certainly, even without organizing protests, Reddit can be a place for encouragement and information for those supporting the BLM movement.
Black Lives Matter is a controversial and polarizing movement as it stands within American culture. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there was a subreddit known as r/The_Donald that contributed to the alt-right community on Reddit (Cross 20). One critic connected the use of disinformation and destabilization techniques like that of the Russian government to the subreddit and other websites like 4chan (21). Under the guise of a community for Donald Trump supporters, r/The_Donald was used to circulate right-wing memes and instigate harassment campaigns targeting POC communities (Newcomer). In 2019 this subreddit was quarantined as a precursor to being banned, eventually de-platformed, and moved to its own website (Newcomer).
In a Bloomberg article, Eric Newcomer shares that Reddit user TheYellowRose is a moderator of the 40 thousand user subreddit r/blackladies who assisted composing an open letter to Reddit in 2014, outlining frustrations against hate speech experienced on the platform. In 2015 Reddit policed its own platform and removed several racist subreddits, including one called Coontown. Proponents of banning hate speech on the platform have not been satisfied with Reddit’s response to their issues, especially since they attempted to shift blame to such subreddits’ moderators to contain the harassment occurring. When does the responsibility fall onto the platform, and how long do their communities have to rally to get their attention? Along with ignoring major issues within their subreddits, Reddit debuted problematic icons for purchase, including a monkey, which was later removed due to inappropriate and inoffensive behavior (Newcomer).
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian was one of the correspondents with r/blackladies whose actions fell short to their requests for a protected, safe space on the platform. Following a promise for change and seemingly willing to help in the past, after the BLM protests earlier this year, Ohanian resigned from the board. Ohanian requested to be replaced with a POC board member instead, encouraging diversity (Newcomer). Reddit’s other founder Steve Huffman was not notified of Ohanian’s plan to step down but replaced him with Michael Seibel, who is black. Reddit user TheYellowRose was quoted saying, “he was in a position to do something and instead he left.” voicing her complaints of Ohanian leaving without action being taken against hate speech (Newcomer). Employees have also expressed the need for inclusivity within the company, Reddit’s interim CEO, Ellen Pao, is quoted saying, "You need people running platforms to empathize with the users who are experiencing hate, racism, violence harassment, and misogyny, to actually want to get rid of it and do the work to actually fix these platforms” (Newcomer).
As the internet and the world are shifting into a self-aware and politically correct mindset, there is a guarantee of growing pains by many corners of society. Because Reddit boasts an international, multi-lingual, niche audience, a discourse between communities was inevitable. This facet of internet culture seemed to be overlooked by developers and founders of the Reddit platform and in turn, caused some problematic situations that could have been avoided if actions or consequences were put into place from the beginning. Should a subreddit’s moderators be blamed for its community’s actions, or should Reddit step in and take disciplinary action?
Free speech is a freedom many Americans value highly in their lifetimes as other countries may not have that particular protection built into their constitution. However, when one’s speech inhibits another citizen’s rights and privacy, it is no longer a demonstration and now harassment. If a subreddit is dedicated to or encourages harmful opinions towards POC, minorities, different genders, or religions, then de-platforming would be a clear consequence. While some Reddit users are promoting the values of Black Lives Matter, other users are humiliating and harassing the same black lives the movement is trying to protect. A racist stance is no longer a difference between ideologies and opinions. If Reddit stands true to its promise of supporting Black Lives Matter, then action will be taken on the website among such users who continue to harass, stalk, and undermine the movement’s voices.
Citations
Cross, Katherine. “The Art of the Real: Disinformation vs. Democracy.” The Baffler, no. 35,
2017, pp. 16–27. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44466511. Accessed 18 Sept. 2020.
Fried_Green_Potatoes. “A ton of legitimate researched information on American police
including racial disparities, overpolicing, and lack of accountabilty.” Reddit, 22 Aug.2020, reddit.com/r/BlackLivesMatter/comments/iefyla/a_ton_of_legitimate_researched_information_on/ . Accessed 18 Sep. 2020.
Greenblatt, Alan. "Citizen Protests." CQ Researcher, 5 Jan. 2018, pp. 1-24,
library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2018010500.
Kaileescales. “I am Kailee Scales, Managing Director for Black Lives Matter. Ask me anything.”
Reddit, June 2020, reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gyzs79/i_am_kailee_scales_managing_director_for_black/ Accessed 18 Sep. 2020.
Langford, Catherine L., and Montené Speight. “#BlackLivesMatter: Epistemic Positioning,
Challenges, and Possibilities.” Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, vol. 5, no. 3/4, July
2015, pp. 78–89. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=135097343&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Lin, Ying. “10 Reddit Statistics You Should Know in 2020 [Infographic].” Oberlo, Oberlo, 27
Aug. 2020, www.oberlo.com/blog/reddit-statistics.
Newcomer, Eric. “Racism Is Rampant on Reddit, and Its Editors Are in Open Revolt.”
Bloomberg.Com, June 2020, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost,
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Ryan_ens. “Where can I find resources to better educate myself about everything that's going on
with the BLM movement?” Reddit, June 2020,
reddit.com/r/AskSocialScience/comments/gw281e/important_question_where_can_i_fin
d_resources_to/ . Accessed 18 Sep 2020.