Many Reddit users are boycotting the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, after Elon Musk twice made a gesture that drew comparisons to the Nazi salute during President Trump's inauguration celebration.
Mr Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform, was speaking at a celebratory gathering on Monday following Mr Trump's appointment as the 47th president, when he grunted, put his hand over his heart and lifted his arm palm down focused. a greeting to the audience.
Although Musk downplayed the criticism, speculation about the gesture's significance erupted online, including on Reddit, where people gather in thousands of forums known as subreddits to discuss niche interests including hobbies, sports, celebrity gossip and geopolitics.
By Tuesday, a proposal had surfaced in dozens of Reddit groups covering a wide spectrum of interests: Many users wanted to impose a ban on linking to X-posts as a way to boycott the platform and Mr. Musk.
A moderator of a subreddit dedicated to Formula 1 racing said it would ban content from Links from (Other place-based forums had similar posts.) TwoXChromosomes, a space focused on women's perspectives, said a bot would automatically remove X-links. That announcement received thousands of votes of approval.
On Wednesday morning, organizers of large-audience groups focused on hometowns, sports teams, board games and the economy were discussing or exploring their members' interest in a possible boycott of X. Users who supported one cited several reasons, the biggest of which was pushing back against Mr Musk after his performance at the inauguration. Others said they had been frustrated with Mr. Musk for some time over his transformation of X and his views on politics and other matters.
Musk appeared to dismiss the interpretation of his gesture later on Monday, when he shared a post from a user on “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks,” Mr Musk added. “The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is so tired.”
As momentum grew on Reddit for an Others said the gesture was the final straw, pointing to accusations that X is spreading misinformation or has simply become difficult to use.
“There is no doubt that Twitter has become a low-quality resource in recent years,” Formula 1 group moderators said, citing X's prioritization of messages from paying users and its “promotion of sensational content.” Feedback from their community, they said, prompted them to make the move.
But the boycott was divisive; some users raised questions about censorship and freedom of speech, and supporters of Mr Musk called it an orchestrated campaign against him. Some conservatives on another forum said a boycott would encourage them to leave Reddit.
Jarrod Maynard, a moderator in one of the groups proposing to ban links to “Reddit moderators and members do not ban ideas, content, or discussions originating from Twitter. Instead, they simply choose to stop driving traffic and ad revenue to the platform,” he added.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Reddit said an X boycott was not company policy.
“Reddit has a longstanding commitment to freedom of speech and association,” a Reddit spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Reddit does not ban links from X, she added, noting that many such links were still active. Communities were free to propose their own rules, the spokeswoman said, and many had previously banned social media links for various reasons.
Once considered one of the darkest parts of the internet, Reddit has emerged in recent years as a useful resource for those looking for news, entertainment, and personal advice. Its CEO, Steve Huffman, has maintained a lower profile than his predecessors and other social media figures such as Mr. Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO.
Reddit's embrace of volunteer moderators, along with its policing of harassment and other toxic behavior, has helped change the way users interact with each other on its forums.
“It's the public square. It's where people meet today, and it's a place where people can organize,” said David Dunning, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan who has studied political beliefs and polarization.
Professor Dunning said a boycott could reveal insights into how people respond to political polarisation. But whether it will have an impact remains to be seen, he said, depending on the answers to critical questions.
“One is, how many communities is this spreading across?” he said. “And the second is: how long will it take? Both dimensions really matter.”
