Moderators of Reddit’s pro-Trump community, The_Donald, believed for weeks that their subreddit was going to be banned or severely restricted.
Breitbart has gained access to chat logs between moderators and site admins showing moderators attempting to work with site staff to address their complaints while Reddit CEO Steve Huffman paints them as uncooperative in public.
A leaked Slack chat also shows Huffman entertaining plans to ban r/the_Donald with other Reddit moderators, one of whom suggests he could be made temporary CEO to “take all the flak” from a decision to ban the Trump-supporting subreddit.
Huffman announced on Wednesday new measures the site would take against “toxic users and poorly behaving communities,” singling out the pro-Donald Trump community, r/The_Donald, in his statements. Huffman said that “while some of the moderators [of The_Donald] have been helpful, this has not been wholly effective.”
Breitbart was provided chat logs that show not only have the moderators of The_Donald cooperated with Reddit staff as best they can to adhere to the site’s rules, they have done so while moderators of other subreddits put heavy pressure on Reddit staff to ban The_Donald.
An exchange between Reddit Director of Community Philippe Beaudette and The_Donald moderator OhSnap shows the Reddit employee praising the “excellent collaboration” he’s experienced with The_Donald’s moderators:
However, a leaked conversation between another Reddit administrator and The_Donald moderator shows the admin taking a threatening stance with The_Donald.
Reddit administrators Sodypop and Redtaboo further warned The_Donald moderator okiedoke against allowing users of The_Donald to insult Reddit CEO Steve Huffman.
Admin Sodypop further warns that if there is not a “culture change” within the community of The_Donald, the subreddit could face deletion.
In a leaked Slack group chat featuring multiple Reddit moderators and admins, many moderators of popular subreddits called for the outright ban of The_Donald. One jokingly suggested CEO Steve Huffman grant them temporary admin privileges so that they could delete The_Donald and spare him any resulting ire, to which Huffman replied, “I like it.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart Tech covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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