Reddit has quarantined subreddit r/Russia due to misinformation, as the internationally condemned Russian invasion of Ukraine goes on for another day. r/RussiaPolitics had just been launched but it is also quarantined now. This is because it was made to entertain invasion-related discussions.
Quarantined subreddits do not come up in searches, recommendations, or feeds in which a user hasn’t specifically included them (such as r/Popular or r/All). In addition, anyone who finds their way to a quarantined community is shown a warning regarding the content, which they must acknowledge before accessing it.
In the case of r/Russia, the message that appears warns that “a high volume of information not supported by credible sources.”
A subreddit dedicated to “[e]verything related to the country of Russia,” r/Russia’s top posts over the past few days have massively spoken for or defended the invasion. This included allegations that Ukraine is spreading propaganda and misinformation, claims Ukrainian soldiers are Nazis who are hurting people, and calls for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be brought in court as a war criminal.
There is reported to be some truth in these talks. Some evidence suggested that the country did discriminate against non-white refugees. However, due to these dis- and misinformation issues, Reddit has now added r/Russia to its list of quarantined communities.
“We are clear in our policies that moderators and users may not attempt to manipulate and interfere with the conversations or communities on our platform,” a Reddit spokesperson told Mashable.
“In line with these policies, we have quarantined r/Russia and r/RussiaPolitics and removed a moderator for acting in bad faith. We have connected directly with the remaining moderators to provide guidance and remind them of our policies. We will continue to monitor the situation and take additional steps as needed.”
Further restrictions such as the removal of custom styles can also be applied to quarantined subreddits. Earlier, r/Russia had a Russian flag header image and a photograph of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow as its background. Both are now blank.
The r/Russia users are calling Reddit’s quarantine censorship and an attack on freedom of speech. Over 265,000 Redditors were subscribed to r/Russia as of Feb. 28.
Meanwhile, protests against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been held all over the globe.
