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Posted by u/spez 50 minutes ago 8 2 2 40 e39 3 29 42 2 O An update on the recent issues surrounding a Reddit employee We would like to give you all an update on the recent issues that have transpired concerning a specific Reddit employee, as well as provide you with context into actions that we took to prevent doxxing and harassment. As of today, the employee in question is no longer employed by Reddit. We built a relationship with her first as a mod and then through her contractor work on RPAN. We did not adequately vet her background before formally hiring her. We've put significant effort into improving how we handle doxxing and harassment, and this employee was the subject of both. In this case, we over-indexed on protection, which had serious consequences in terms of enforcement actions. • On March 9th, we added extra protections for this employee, including actioning content that mentioned the employee's name or shared personal information on third- party sites, which we reserve for serious cases of harassment and doxxing. On March 22nd, a news article about this employee was posted by a mod of r/ukpolitics. The article was removed and the submitter banned by the aforementioned rules. When contacted by the moderators of r/ukpolitics, we reviewed the actions, and reversed the ban on the moderator, and we informed the r/ukpolitics moderation team that we had restored the mod. • We updated our rules to flag potential harassment for human review. Debate and criticism have always been and always will be central to conversation on Reddit -including discussion about public figures and Reddit itself-as long as they are not used as vehicles for harassment. Mentioning a public figure's name should not get you banned. We care deeply for Reddit and appreciate that you do too. We understand the anger and confusion about these issues and their bigger implications. The employee is no longer with Reddit, and we'll be evolving a number of relevant internal policies. We did not operate to our own standards here. We will do our best to do better for you. 5.8k Comments Award A Share 70% Upvoted

Sarcastryx 11 hours ago · edited 2 hours ago O 2 2 6 2 0 47 & 80 More Answer: For those who don't want to visit the links: Reddit recently hired a new admin, Aimee Challenor, who had previously been a politician in the UK. Aimee is publicly tied to two different instances of supporting pedophiles. The first, her father r---- and abused a child, in the house Aimee was living in. After being arrested and charged for the crime, but before being tried and sentenced, Aimee hired her father to be her campaign manager for elections with the Green party, and gave a false name to the party on the paperwork. When this was found out, she claimed ignorance of the extent of his crimes, and was removed from the party for safeguarding failures. The second, her husband is an open p--------, who posts erotic fiction about children. Aimee had joined the Lib Dem party, and was removed when her husband tweeted that he "Fantasized about children having sex..sometimes with adults, sometimes kidnapped and forced in to bad situations". Both Aimee and her husband claim that the twitter account was hacked at that time. The fact that she is trans has meant that she is a prime target for harassment or as a demonstration by TERF/hard right groups of how "terrible" trans people can be. This lead to Reddit (per their claims) secretly enabling protections, that all posts on Reddit would be automatically scanned, and if it was detected to be doxxing Aimee, it would result in an automatic ban. After however long of running undetected by the userbase, the automatic doxxing protection proceeded to ban a moderator of r/UKPolitics who posted a news article, as Aimee Challenor was mentioned by name in the article. r/UKPolitics went private and shut down to figure out what was happening, and the admins reinstated the mod's account. r/UKPolitics then re-opened and posted a statement, that the shutdown was due to a ban, the ban was caused by an article including a line that referenced a specific person who now worked for Reddit, and that they were specifically requesting people not post the person's name or try to find out who the person was, as site admins would issue bans for that. Word of getting banned for saying "Aimee Challenor" spread quickly, and other OOTL posts show some of the results of that - many people repeating her name and associations and support for pedophiles, and a few (notably significantly less) removed comments. The admins put out a statement on r/ModSupport, stating that the post had "included personal information", that the ban was automated, not manual, and that the moderation rule had been too broad and was being fixed. People who can post on r/ModSupport (you must be a moderator, or your comments are automatically removed) immediately took issue with every part of the statement, as: -There had been a number of manual removals and direct edits of comments by reddit staff as the incident escalated (The second being something u/Spez was previously guilty of, and said he would lock down to prevent abuse of during the T_D issues) -The ban and post deletion on r/UKPolitics had been hours after the post, not immediate (which would be expected of an automated process) -Nobody believed that Reddit was automatically seanning the contents of every link to check for blacktisted words (Edit, striking this part out, looks like the text of the article was copied in to a comment which is what was scanned.) -The definition of "personal information" had just changed so much that posting the name "Joe Biden" could be considered doxxing -Reddit had not commented at all on the "open support for pedophiles" part Many moderators also raised complaints in the post about their personal issues with being doxxed, and that they had been reaching out to Reddit staff about consistent harassment and doxxing of their mod teams with no help given by Reddit, or wondering why these protections weren't enabled for them. One notable post states that inaction from Reddit staff with regards to doxxing resulted in a situation so bad that they were forced to contact the FBI in the USA and the RCMP in Canada to resolve the situation. This continued to rapidly escalate, and a group of mods started pushing for a blackout of their subreddits, something that has forced Reddit's hand with regards to responding to issues before. The list has been changing through the night, as different subreddits join in or leave the blackout, either protesting the censorship, protesting Reddit's perceived proxy-support for pedophiles, or (in many cases) both. + 12.8k + Reply Give Award Share Report Save

Posted by u/Blank-Cheque 5 hours ago 212 e3 List of Protesting Subreddits Link back to original post DEFAULT SUBREDDITS r/Fitness r/listentothis r/Music 1,000,000+ Subscribers r/AbruptChaos r/AmItheAsshole r/apple r/awfuleverything r/childfree r/comedyheaven r/confusing_perspective r/Coronavirus r/CozyPlaces r/Cringetopia r/cursedcomments r/HealthyFood r/HistoryMemes r/hmmm r/insaneparents r/instantkarma r/iphone r/JusticeServed r/mac r/MurderedByWords r/nevertellmetheodds r/Outdoors r/perfectlycutscreams r/pokemongo r/ProgrammerHumor r/quityourbullshit r/rareinsults r/softwaregore r/technicallythetruth r/techsupport r/thatHappened r/TIHI r/TooAfraidToAsk r/trashy. r/WeAreTheMusicMakers r/Wellthatsucks rlyouseeingthisshit r/Zoomies 500,000+ Subscribers r/AccidentalRenaissance r/agedlikemilk r/AmongUs r/antiMLM r/Bad Cop No Donut r/BigBoobsGW r/Bossfight r/ComedyCemetery. r/Conservative r/dankchristianmemes r/delusionalartists r/discordapp r/engrish r/forbiddensnacks r/FUCKYOUINPARTICULAR r/gatekeeping r/GoCommitDie r/houseplants г/НydroHomies r/ihadastroke r/IsitBullshit r/jailbreak r/lotrmemes r/NoMansSkyTheGame r/okbuddyretard r/pussypassdenied r/reddeadredemption r/ShitPostCrusaders r/smashbros r/suspiciouslyspecific r/TikTokCringe r/tiktokthots r/TrueCrime | info

Ir/theydidthemonstermath Regarding going private ? lu/landoflobsters [A] a minute ago Quote Report Hi mods, We're writing in with regards to this community going private. We understand your concerns and are still evaluating. In the meantime, there is a lot of incorrect information regarding some of our previous actions. We are not removing mentions of admins names, nor are users being suspended for it unless it is accompanied by harassment. Again, the suspension of the mod of /r/ukpolitics mod was a mistake which we reversed and apologized for shortly after it occurred. You can see our thread in /r/ModSupport along with an updated comment offering more details here. As we continue to evaluate, we'd like you to ensure that you are not spreading incorrect information. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Best, -The Reddit Admins

Posted by u/Blank-Cheque 23 hours ago O 65 & O 2 61 e50 3 63 O "Why is this subreddit private?" See here for answers! The best current TL;DR can be found at this link If you've been linked to this page, you likely tried to view a subreddit that's been made private. You may be asking yourself "Why can't I look at teh memes and teh cat gifs??" I'll tell you why, young redditor: It's because one of reddit's new employees is a close associate of child rapists & pedophiles, and the mods of the subreddit you're attempting to view think that's bad. They also think it's bad for reddit to be censoring any mention of this across the site, including banning people just for saying the name of said admin in a completely unrelated context. What am I talking about? Click here for more information! See the comments for a list of subreddits currently private! FAQ: Q: What does "private" mean in this context? A: Reddit mods have the ability to make their subreddits unavailable for public use if they so choose - this is what they're doing here. Private is not the same thing as banned. Q: When will these subreddits reopen? A: I cannot speak for all of the subreddits involved, but I would not support reopening until reddit makes a statement explaining either why they hired the admin in question despite her past, or why they can't explain it. Q: What can I do to help? A: The best thing you can do is talk about this to make people aware. The more angry users, the more pressure is on reddit. Q: Have I lost my karma from these subs/Do I have to join them again when they reopen? A: No. You still have all your karma, even now. You are still subscribed to the subreddits, you just can't see them right now. Additional info I've been tipped off to that may not be included in any of the linked threads: before becoming an admin, the person in question moderated subreddits specifically for teenaged audiences. I cannot link to proof of this because it uses their full name which reddit won't allow me to say, but it's from a well-known and reliable online newspaper. Yet more info that I've been shown screenshots proving (out of respect for the person who showed me I cannot share them, unfortunately): as part of their duties as a reddit employee, the admin in question has been in charge of reviewing content for potential minor sexualization, and has explicitly refused to take down content containing sexualization of children. She then threatened to ban the user submitting the reports for "report abuse." Why does reddit allow this to happen? Is there literally zero oversight here? Do you mod a subreddit that has gone private over this as well? Message me or reply to this post and let me know so I can include you in the list! If I forget to reply to your comment/message I'm sorry, I promise it's nothing against you. Reddit is being buggy about editing a comment this large so if your subreddit doesn't show up within 10 minutes feel free to poke me again. Update 6:24 PM EST: Reddit came up with their first attempt at damage control! Update 11:26 PM EST: Reddit is "unable to comment on specific employment details" of why they employed someone who supports child rapists! Very cool, reddit! Update 11:30 PM EST: Reddit sent this message out to several of the larger private subreddits - this message has replies disabled, of course, so I can't ask for further clarification. If I could reply to /u/landoflobsters, I would ask them: "Can I then put the full name of the admin in question at the top of my megathread?" Feel free to reply here with your answer! P.S. Please do not dox anyone or post bigotry in this thread. P.P.S. Please do not give me awards, reddit doesn't deserve your money. If you would like to show your support please donate to a relevant charity (see below for examples) - if you send me proof of your donation I'll feature you in this post. Charitable people: • /u/RedditSuxGoTORuggus donated $106 to the American Cancer Society! • /u/TheReluctantOtter donated £50 to The Lucy Faithfull Foundation! • /u/HilariousScreenname donated $50 to Prevent Child Abuse America! • /u/AshRae84 donated $50 to the R---, Abuse & I----- National Network! • u/DoomEmpires donated Mex$1040 (~$50) to the Wikimedia Foundation! • /u/Aimless27 donated CA$50 to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection! • /u/nuclearnerfbat donated $30 to The Trevor Project! • /u/CodPolish donated $25 to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention! • /u/Devonmartino donated $25 to the R---, Abuse & I----- National Network!

landoflobsters Reddit Admin: Safety 16 hours ago · Stickied comment We're seeing a number of good questions regarding where our policies around public information, personal information, and harassment intersect. While we're unable to comment on specific employment details, we do want to address a few of these questions, especially around what is or isn't allowed to be posted. A few answers: | May we allow articles about an admin's personal and professional history? Yes, articles are allowed to be posted on Reddit as long as they do not spread private information or invite harassment against others. May we allow proper names of admins? It depends on the context - posting of any personal information, including names, coupled with harassment of any sort may result in action by us. Some admins are public figures by virtue of their job, so those names are okay. Other employees may have chosen to explicitly link their usernames to their real life, that's also okay. Some employees may have taken pains to not associate themselves with their specific usernames for safety reasons, in which case linking their names to their account is not ok. | Can we allow wikipedia pages if they mention the names of admins? As long as it's not being posted in conjunction with other rule breaking content, nor as a springboard for harassment. If we approve this kind of content can we be banned? We know mods make mistakes and it's only a problem if we see it becoming a pattern. If we see that we will talk to you before further steps are taken. That said, we sometimes make mistakes too, as we did in this instance. When we do so, we will correct the situation as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, there have been instances where mods have been removed from their positions or suspended over repeatedly ignoring site wide rules or encouraging others to break them. Given that this person is a public figure, why is this standard in place? They ran for public office and have been covered in the media. Our intent was never to remove any and all mentions of this admin's name. Just an overzealous automation when attempting to prevent doxxing and harassment. Ok, so why did you suspend the mod last night just for posting the name of an admin? (this is not a quoted question, but a sentiment we're still seeing here so wish to address) As we mentioned, this was an error on our part and quickly rectified with the mod team in question. We also communicated clearly with them while we were in the process of resolving this.

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Overview

March 2021 Subreddit Blackout refers to a Reddit protest against the website hiring activist Aimee Challenor (who has been involved in two pedophilia-related scandals) as an admin and the related misuse of censorship by the Reddit admin team. The protest started on March 22nd, 2021, with the /r/ukpolitics subreddit going private after its moderator was permanently suspended for linking an article mentioning Challenor's name. On March 24th, following a protest that involved nearly 600 subreddits going private, Challenor was let go by the Reddit admin team.

Background

/r/ukpolitics Made Private

On March 22nd, 2021, a moderator of the /r/ukpolitics subreddit posted an article from the British online newspaper The Spectator^[1] that contained a three-word mention, in passing, of a minor British public figure, Aimee Challenor (extract quoted below). Unbeknownst to the moderator, Challenor some time ago was hired by Reddit as an administrator.

The formidable feminist author and journalist Bea Campbell, a former Green party candidate, resigned from the party last year after being disciplined, in part for refusing to keep quiet about the shocking and disturbing Aimee Challenor case.

Following the post, the moderator who posted the article was permanently suspended from Reddit.^[2] Immediately following the suspension, /r/ukpolitics subreddit moderators made the sub private and contacted the Reddit admin staff for clarification. /r/ukpolitics moderators later learned that Reddit hired Challenor as an admin and was acting with intention of preventing users from disclosing her personal information.

On March 23rd, 2021, Redditor^[11] Stoicpeace made a post about the controversy in the /r/Drama subreddit. The post received over 1,100 upvotes in one day.

On March 23rd, 2021, /r/ukpolitics went public again. On the same day, the /r/ukpolitics^[2] moderation team posted a statement regarding the events. In the statement, the moderation team deliberately refused to name the admin in question, writing that "Reddit […] were banning people from discussing her past to protect their employee from harassment."

Please do not name this individual, at all. Doing so may result in your account being banned by the admins.
Please do not ask further questions about this, as doing so may result in your account being banned by the admins.
lease do not discuss this incident on Reddit publicly or privately (e.g. on private subreddits and/or in private messages, chat etc.), as doing so may result in your account being banned by the admins.

On the same day, Redditor^[3] ThisIsBanEvasion posted an inquiry about /r/ukpolitics going private, with the post gaining over 21,900 upvotes in one day. In the comment section, several users summarized available information about Challenor's past and wrote that discussions of Challenor got users suspended.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Aimee Challenor

Aimee Challenor is a transgender activist who has previously been a member of the Liberal Democrats party and Green Party in the UK.

In January 2019, Challenor resigned from Green Party after failing to properly alert it of criminal charges against her father, who was charged with 22 offenses in November 2016, including rape and torture of a 10-year-old girl.^[4] During the 2017 general election, Challenor's father acted as her agent. He was jailed for 22 years in August 2018.

In October 2019, Challenor was suspended from Liberal Democrats after the party launched an investigation into tweets posted on a Twitter account that belonged to a man Challenor was engaged to.^[5] The tweets contained admissions to sexual fantasies involving minors. Challenor and her fiancé claimed that the Twitter account was hacked.

First Reddit Admin Staff Response

Later, on March 23rd, 2021, Reddit^[9] admin staff made a clarification post regarding the situation (shown below, left). In the post, the staff wrote that, due to Challenor having been a target of harassment and doxxing earlier in March 2021, a standard anti-harassment process was put in place with the activation of an automated moderation rule to prevent personal information from being shared. The post stated that, due to the moderation rule being too broad, it erroneously suspended the /r/ukpolitics moderator. Following the clarification request from the /r/ukpolitics moderation team, the moderator was reinstated on the same day. An additional comment clarifying do and don'ts regarding personal information of Reddit admins was posted (shown below, right).^[10]

Later that same day, /r/ukpolitics^[2] moderation team commented on the official statement, communicating that they disagreed with the assertion.

We disagree with Reddit's assertion in their statement that an r/ukpolitics moderator posted "personal information" about a Reddit employee. It was a news article from a respected (if not universally popular) UK publication which included the name of the employee specifically in relation to their UK political history.

Developments

Following the viral popularity of the /r/OutOfTheLoop post and growing awareness of the situation, starting on March 23rd, 2021, multiple subreddits went private, starting with several subreddits whose mod team included moderator Blank-Cheque. On that day, Blank-Cheque, moderator of /r/music, /r/listentothis, /r/Wellthatsucks and many other large subreddits, made a post explaining the reasons behind the blackout protest.^[12]

If you've been linked to this page, you likely tried to view a subreddit that's been made private. You may be asking yourself "Why can't I look at teh memes and teh cat gifs??" I'll tell you why, young redditor:
It's because one of reddit's new employees is a close associate of child rapists & pedophiles, and the mods of the subreddit you're attempting to view think that's bad. They also think it's bad for reddit to be censoring any mention of this across the site, including banning people just for saying the name of said admin in a completely unrelated context.

The subreddits that went private during the blackout protest linked Blank-Cheque's post. The list^[13] of subreddits that went private at various times on March 23rd and 24th included nearly 600 communities.

Second Reddit Admin Staff Response

On March 24, Reddit^[14] admin spez posted an update on the situation, announcing that Challenor was let go from her position at the company.

Debate and criticism have always been and always will be central to conversation on Reddit — including discussion about public figures and Reddit itself — as long as they are not used as vehicles for harassment. Mentioning a public figure’s name should not get you banned.

Search Interest

External References

^[1] The Spectator – The Green party’s woman problem

^[2] Reddit – Chaos at Reddit as dozens of subreddits made private in protest at site

^[3] Reddit – Whats the deal with /r/UKPolitics going private and making a sticky about a new admin who cant be named or you will be banned?

^[4] Independent – Aimee Challenor: Green star failed to properly alert party of father's child rape charges

^[5] Coventry Observer – EXCLUSIVE: Transgender activist Aimee Challenor no longer in Coventry Liberal Democrats post – amid fresh probe into sick tweets

^[6] Reddit – Puzzleheaded-Ad473

^[7] Reddit – Mr-Zero-Fucks

^[8] Reddit – Bleach1443

^[9] Reddit – A clarification on actioning and employee names

^[10] Reddit – landoflobsters

^[11] Reddit – Dear Dramatards, I bring you actual dramatic drama(well basically copypasting this from Stupidpol).

^[12] Reddit – 'Why is this subreddit private?' See here for answers!

^[13] Reddit – List of Protesting Subreddits

^[14] Reddit – An update on the recent issues surrounding a Reddit employee

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March 2021 Subreddit Blackout

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