Dozens of subreddits have opted to block links to X in their communities over the last 24 hours in a movement that appears to be gaining momentum across Reddit. Hundreds more appear to be actively discussing or considering a similar move with their members.
Engadget counted more than two dozen subreddits, which collectively have millions of members, that have already restricted their communities’ ability to post content from X in some way in recent days. These include large subreddits, like r/formula1, which has nearly 5 million members, and smaller communities like r/ultraman, which has 30,000.
The movement seems to have been popularized, at least in part, by r/newjersey, whose mods announced a ban on X links Tuesday. “Fuck this guy. X links are now banned from r/newjersey,” they shared in a post that now has more than 65,000 upvotes. Accompanying the post was a photo of Elon Musk extending his arm, Musk made two apparent Nazi salutes during a speech at Donald Trump’s inauguration which have been widely celebrated by fascists online.
A number of other subreddits quickly followed suit, with many sharing a link to the r/newjersey post. X links have been barred from r/military (489,000 members), r/comics (2.7 million), r/casualnintendo (184,000), r/spiderman (1 million), r/pcgaming (3.8 million), r/rupaulsdragrace (1 million), r/KingdomHearts (345,000), r/therapists (142,000), and many others. “We weren’t trying to start a trend, and we never expected to go viral,” the mods of r/newjersey said in a statement to Engadget. “Not everyone will agree with our choice, but Reddit has always been a place where each community gets to decide these things individually. If our announcement has inspired discussions about the role social media is playing in our current times, we think that’s a good thing.”
Many mods, in announcing their ban on X links have also cited the fact X has made it increasingly difficult for users to view posts if they aren’t logged in. “There’s no doubt that over the past years Twitter has become a low-quality source: the login requirements, the flood of bots, the prioritization of content from paying users and promotion of sensationalist content,” r/formula1’s mods wrote in a post. “But unlike with news sites in our source-rating system, for Twitter there wasn’t really an alternative.”
The subreddit is instead encouraging members to share content from Bluesky, which doesn’t require a login to view posts. The mods said they will allow “screenshots of relevant posts by teams, drivers & F1” when the same content isn’t available elsewhere.
Moderators for r/antiwork, which has 2.9 million members, noted that their rules prohibit links and screenshots to X and all other social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and even LinkedIn. “We’d prefer for the message of antiwork to come organically from you, here, in OC form, but if it comes from a picture or post of something else, that catches hold, we want that, too,” they wrote. “Just not Twitter.”
Many other subreddits are considering similar measures. Mods of r/dnd (4 million members), r/baseball (2.8 million), r/AlanWake (80,000) and r/Xmen (270,000) are currently running polls among their members. Moderators in r/hockey (2.7 million), r/georgia (237,000) and r/popheads (2.8 million) have also shared that they are discussing a potential ban.
Not all moderators have been receptive when such a ban has been raised. A mod in r/chess said that such a ban would “pose a bit of a logistical problem” for the community. “The unfortunate reality is that Twitter is the source of a big portion of content on the subreddit,” they wrote. “A ban would thus require some rule changes. We’re open to suggestions, but can’t promise anything at the moment.” Likewise, a moderator of r/fauxmoi, a subreddit dedicated to gossip, noted that “we do prefer to still have the link so we can ensure that people are not submitting fake or doctored screenshots.”
While this is far from the first time that Redditors have joined together in a form of protest, it’s notable that so many are calling to remove a popular source for Reddit posts.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/dozens-of-subreddits-are-banning-x-links-from-their-communities-215441510.html?src=rss
