Reddit Becomes Latest Social Media Domino to Fall Against Guns
OutdoorHub Reporters 03.22.18
Another social media platform has switched up its content policy to take a stance against guns.
Reddit, which is a social discussion platform built around users creating their own boards known as “subreddits,” announced the change to its massive user community in a post reading:
“Hello All—
We want to let you know that we have made a new addition to our content policy forbidding transactions for certain goods and services. As of today, users may not use Reddit to solicit or facilitate any transaction or gift involving certain goods and services, including:
- Firearms, ammunition, or explosives;
- Drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, or any controlled substances (except advertisements placed in accordance with our advertising policy);
- Paid services involving physical sexual contact;
- Stolen goods;
- Personal information;
- Falsified official documents or currency
When considering a gift or transaction of goods or services not prohibited by this policy, keep in mind that Reddit is not intended to be used as a marketplace and takes no responsibility for any transactions individual users might decide to undertake in spite of this. Always remember: you are dealing with strangers on the internet.
EDIT: Thanks for the questions everyone. We’re signing off for now but may drop back in later. We know this represents a change and we’re going to do our best to help folks understand what this means. You can always feel free to send any specific questions to the admins here.“
The post was instantly followed with several thousand comments, mostly negative and pushing back against the change.
Included in those comments, were an abundance of users defending a specific subreddit, /r/Gundeals.
“It’s ridiculous that you’re lumping gundeals in with other subs that facilitated illegal activities,” one Reddit user wrote. “Gundeals at no time ever violated or attempted to skirt any laws; everything was 100% in compliance with federal and local laws as /r/gundeals was simply just a springboard for coupons and deal alerts and all transactions took place off Reddit through the proper and licensed channels.”
It seems a lot of unhappy gun folks are already moving on from Reddit, and have switched over to /v/Gundeals.
The move comes after YouTube made a similar change, and enhanced its own content policies.
