- Reddit temporarily banned a popular community after users threatened staffers at Elon Musk’s DOGE.
- Musk said the members of r/WhitePeopleTwitter had “broken the law.”
- The subreddit is now back with new rules and limited comments.
A Reddit community banned after its members threatened staffers at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is back online.
Reddit shut down r/WhitePeopleTwitter beginning February 4 after Musk reposted a screenshot from an X account called “Reddit Lies.”
The screenshots showed members of the subreddit discussing the identities of some of Musk’s DOGE staffers. Some of the comments threatened violence. Musk, in his X post, said the Reddit users had “broken the law.”
The subreddit had been inaccessible to the public for two weeks before it returned earlier this week. While the public can again post, the comment section remains locked.
The community’s moderators have also introduced new rules, like no harassment or bullying and no violence “even as a joke.” The moderators also recommend its users “attack ideas, not people.”
The r/WhitePeopleTwitter forum is known for sharing humorous or political posts from X, which was known as Twitter before Musk bought the company and rebranded it. In their post announcing the community’s reopening, its moderators said the forum has “always been a home for sharp, funny, and insightful social commentary.”
“We believe Reddit has our back on the external stuff, so we need YOU to help us keep things smooth inside,” the moderators said. “By following the rules and reporting violations, we can keep this place thriving.”
Its members had been critical of DOGE’s attempts to access Treasury Department payment systems and other critical data, including the Social Security information of millions of Americans. A federal judge approved a Treasury Department plan on February 6 that prevents sharing personal financial data with DOGE.
In an earlier statement, Reddit said it wants its communities to be places for “civil discussion” and “one of the few places online where people can exchange ideas and perspectives.”
“We want to ensure that they continue to be a place for healthy debate no matter the topic,” the company said. “Debate and dissent are welcome on Reddit — threats and doxxing are not.”
Reddit said it takes steps before banning individual communities. When the company discovers a subreddit with “rule-violating” content, like promoting violence, it first contacts its volunteer moderators and places pop-up reminders for the community to follow the rules.
Threats against DOGE workers continued on r/WhitePeopleTwitter, however, triggering the ban, the company said. The company called the ban a “cool-down period” and said it would work with moderators to ensure the community is “a safe place for discussion.”
Musk himself has been critical of moderation online, styling himself a free speech activist. He drastically reduced moderation on X after buying the social media company in 2022.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” he said in a post at the time.
Tensions between Reddit users and Musk grew after the moderators of over 100 subreddits recently moved to ban links to X after Musk’s speech at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, where he made a gesture that some interpreted as a fascist salute.
