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A boycott of links to Mr. Musk’s social media platform spread on Reddit this week, after he made a gesture that some likened to a Nazi salute. Others worried about censorship.
Musk’s gesture has received mixed reactions from politicians and academics, with some likening it to a Nazi salute and others saying it was an accidental action made in the heat of his victory speech.
In reaction to hand gestures Elon Musk made at a post-inauguration rally that many said resembled a Nazi salute, Reddit moderators took swift action.
Reddit communities from r/NBA to r/Christianity say they won’t allow links to the platform after Elon Musk’s gesture, which some interpreted as a Nazi-style salute.
A ban on links to X content began on Reddit sports forums and has spread to numerous other sub-Reddits with more discussing the move.
After Musk sparked a wave of ire with back-to-back Nazi salutes at an Inauguration Day event in Washington, D.C., on Monday, the bans quickly swept across Reddit. Such a move is not unheard of — moderators can ban links to specific sites, meaning that posts and comments including X links are easy to block.
More than 50 subreddits – ranging in size from a few dozen members to millions, totaling at least 40 million members across the communities – issued bans this week, the report said.
Given Musk’s actions on Monday, it may be time to rethink how we engage with the platform,’ one subreddit’s moderators wrote after Musk’s inauguration apperance
The cascade of link bans on Reddit came after Musk made a hand gesture at a Monday rally that many compared to a Nazi salute.
In the wake of Elon Musk's speech at Trump's inauguration and its accompanying (ahem) hand gesture, the userbase of Reddit seems to have decided it's simply done with Musk and his website. As we reported yesterday, r/pcgaming has now banned X links —and the same thing is happening across a huge number of subreddits, major and minor.