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.
None of this shows what you were actually posting to earn this. You didn’t get a ban for calling Trump a cunt.
You were either ban evading and got caught after being flagged or you made a threat.
You are wrong. I did none of that. I submitted the appeal, I deleted the app from my phone, and did nothing on reddit. It was followed hours later by the permanent ban.
Nah, something is missing. I shit talk on Reddit all the time about Elon and Trump. It’s all over the place, it’s plain to see.
What’s missing, seems to be your understanding as to how much reddit has changed over the past year or so. Are you not seeing the other comments with similar experiences to mine? I highly encourage you to continue shit talking those two twats, but don’t be surprised when this happens to you as well. All it really takes is drawing the attention one pro-trump mod. Among other things, I made this alternate time cover and posted that in various places. Perhaps it was my overall post history that did me in. There was no explanation beyond what I already posted regarding the permanent ban.
