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.
I call BS. Reddit didn’t issue a permanent ban for Trump criticism. This is probably a mod action and you are confused.
Here are the messages I received from u/reddit:
Reddit is a vast network of communities that are created, run, and populated by people like you. In order to keep communities welcoming, safe, and great places to be, everyone who uses the platform operates by a shared set of rules.
First message: Banned 7-days for hate
We flagged the following as a potential policy violation:
Content shared from KarlHungus311 on 03/25/2025 UTC After reviewing, we found that you broke Rule 1 because you promoted identity-based hate or attacks. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people. We don’t tolerate promoting hate based on identity or vulnerability, and any communities or people that encourage or incite violence or hate towards marginalized or vulnerable groups will be banned.
As a result, we’re issuing a temporary 7-day ban on your KarlHungus311 account, removing the violating content, and asking you not to break this rule again.
Reddit and its communities are only what we make of them together, and we want you to continue enjoying Reddit while helping your fellow redditors and communities stay safe. We suggest reading and getting acquainted with the Reddit Rules. A better understanding of these rules will help you avoid further actions from our admin team. If you do continue to break Reddit’s rules through this or any other Reddit account, you may face additional actions such as a permanent ban from the platform.
If you feel like you didn’t break the rules, you can file an appeal any time within the next six months and we’ll take a second look.
If you live in the European Union, you can also contact a settlement body to dispute the decision. You may also have the right to have this decision reviewed by a competent court under the applicable laws of your country.
– Reddit Admin Team
Note: This content was flagged by Reddit’s automated systems. This decision was made without the assistance of automation.
Second Message (a few hours later): Your account has been permanently banned for breaking the rules.
This account has been permanently banned due to multiple, repeated violations of Reddit’s Content Policy on your other account(s). For more information about what rules you broke and how to appeal, check your account inboxes.
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.
Welcome, c’mon in outta the cold. There’s a warm spot of ere
First permaban was for asking: “Any updates on Mitch McConnell? I could use some good news.” Mod appeal denied
Then on another account a year later (bc I got so many death threats from Nazis on Reddit), I forgot I had a ban on that sub and said, “We should spend money feeding our kids instead of spending it to blow up someone else’s kids.” And that was an IP ban.
Crazy, I’ve seen literal Nazis on there not even get comments removed. We live in dark times.
the first reason was ridiculous, jyust for asking that question? you know it turning right wing, when you cant even IMPLY things. i used accounts like you did, dint get ban that aggressively, maybe because i was also using multiple locations, confused reddit for a while.
I got banned for saying a woman was a monster. Yes free speech really must be protected by all sides, we can too easily lose it.
My 11 year old account got banned and I’m not even sure why. I posed a lot over the years. They said I was banned, pointed to a deleted comment. When I asked what the comment said they replied the reviewed the ban and now I’m banned.
I believe it was for a comment about how America would be in trouble if they invaded Canada (I’m Canadian). I stated some basic facts that Canadians look like Americans and they will attack America on American soil. It was matter of fact, not promoting any sort of violence.
Whatever. America is dying. I suppose services hosted on American soil die right along with it. We’re actively avoiding as many US products and services as possible, so Reddit can kick rocks.
I discovered Lemmy, it suits my needs and I like it better.
right now, right wingers need to take over many western countries, and reddit wants to stop that discussion, at the behest of MUSK.
Consider yourself lucky to be off that fascist bootlicking platform
I was perma-banned because I made a joke about chucking a rock through the windshield of a literal, out-and-proud-capital-N Nazi.
Didn’t make any appeals because it was time to leave. I spent waaaay too much time on that stupid site and now I’m starting to finally feel free of the outrage/affirmation addiction.
Same on that last sentiment, dude. The difference in my own temperament has been surprisingly noteworthy since leaving. It took being banned for me to realize how emotionally dependant I had bec9me on their algorithm.
I’m still pissed about why I was banned, but I am ultimately glad to have left. The bump in my productivity has also been noteworthy. My home hasn’t been this clean in a long while lol
Things have gotten pretty weird in the last few months. I got a warning and a deleted comment several months ago because there was a debate in some random Colorado sub on what to do about a person living downtown who kept putting a swastika in their apartment window. They lived above a popular local business and it was causing issues. I said something about using a slingshot to solve the problem. I hear you on the time spent on there. After deleting the app from my phone, it really hit home just how much I was compulsively checking it throughout the day.
Edolf 🤣 using this from now on
Permabanned for saying evil shit about Russians, a few times. Funny thing is how fast they would be on negative comments about Russia.
And BTW, Russians can die in a fucking fire. Lived under threat of nuclear annihilation for my entire childhood, and now the filthy gangsters are fucking with, and have ruined, American politics.
Likewise.
My first offense was recommending that we bring back the guillotine.
My second offense was saying that MTG and fElon needed to get punched in the face after they said that Sesame Street was woke trash that needed to be canceled.
Fuck those vile pieces of shit!
Over 13 years and a quarter million karma later, it has come down to this.
I got permabanned for criticizing Israel. The final comment that got me permabanned was literally ‘No, just the problems they deserve blame for’ to a zionist who accused all Lebanese of blaming all their problems on Israel.
I cant even tell you what I got banned for because they banned me without saying why. I dont even know the last thing I was talking about was finding anime in the style of berserk.
They probably banned you for something that happened at least 24 hours before the ban hit because they’re just slow. My account was banned a week after I had replied to a racist troll trying to figure out if they were being racist so that I could ban them on my subreddit, and my comment was flagged as racist. I had already banned the user and hidden the thread, but that wasn’t good enough for Reddit and I needed to go.
been banned since 2015 when I told a white supremacist Nazi to drink bleach and fuck themselves.
All I can do is extend my sympathies, and tell you that you’re better off in the long run. Most people here don’t like corporate social media because of situations like yours.
Don’t worry about profanity. People swear all the time and don’t mark their posts.
I find it kind of psychologically interesting how many reddifugees self censor, either directly or through obscuring names and events. That site’s moderation is seriously screwing people up.
It’s so relaxing when you know that you don’t have the sword of Damocles hanging over you
i had to self-cesor race before and after covid. apparently calling someone black, or Demographic was justification for a ban, they think calling african americans a different name what it suppose to be is racist. its so sensitive now, other sites are doing this(forums)
I have said all kinds of nasty things there about GropenFührer…I mean inmate #P01135809 and other than a few downvotes, nothing. Maybe it’s a “no warning” kind of thing?
