Reddit is one of my favorite websites -- or, it used to be. I joined a couple of months after I had my first child. The parenting subreddits offered much better conversation than BabyCenter's forums, and it was nice to escape new-mom drudgery with the help of /r/MakeupAddiction. By the time I discovered /r/blackladies, I was hooked. /r/blackladies is a place where black women have the floor to share our experiences with others who "get it." People of all genders and races are welcome, but they are expected to participate in a way that does not de-center the needs and perspectives of black women. This enrages the white supremacist communities on the site, who harass the subreddit and its users in a variety of ways.
Last August, after months of harassment and inaction from Reddit's administrators, the moderators of /r/blackladies posted an open letter that was co-signed by the moderators of more than 70 other subreddits, many of them centered on the interests of women and people of color. Progress on this issue proceeded at a snail's pace until May of this year, when Reddit finally articulated an anti-harassment policy to protect its users. However, a month later, when Reddit banned five subreddits whose users were found harassing others on and off the site, many were dismayed by the fact that almost all of the racist subreddits remained. Users in these communities constantly flout Reddit's rules and even the rules of their own subreddits in their efforts to silence black people and spread dangerous white supremacist ideologies.
Still, I have to admit that at first, I hadn't taken much interest in these goings on. Shielded from the worst of the harassment by our stellar moderators, and more concerned with adult responsibilities than Internet points, it wasn't top of mind. However, the massacre of nine black churchgoers on June 17 gave the issue of hate speech on Reddit new importance for me. The gunman had been radicalized online by content of the kind found in Reddit's echo chambers of hate. People are dying in the real world because of online forums dedicated to fomenting racial hatred.
When current Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced that the site would begin banning certain types of content, those of us who oppose bigotry saw a glimmer of hope that was quickly dashed. Huffman added to the list of prohibited content on Reddit, but then announced a "containment" strategy for other content that "violates a common sense of decency," including hate speech. The new policy places these subreddits behind a symbolic wall. One will be required to opt-in to view the content, which will not bear ads or be eligible for participation in Reddit's gold program (a revenue-generating scheme). Basically, bigots on Reddit will now enjoy an ad-free experience, while the rest of the site's users subsidize them. The reason for this special treatment of bigoted content, according to Huffman, is so that Reddit does not give the appearance of profiting from hate, despite continuing to host it.
Reddit doesn't get it. Steve Huffman apparently thinks that the humanity of black people is an open question, and that the debate over what to do with us should be happening on his website. He also doesn't seem to understand that the white supremacists on his site are not there to have an honest debate with anyone. The purpose of speech is to make common cause with others and then take action; it wouldn't matter at all otherwise. Hateful, violent speech online leads to hate and violence in the real world.
Banning hate speech on Reddit would strike a major blow against the spread of white supremacist ideologies online. White supremacists view Reddit as a fertile breeding ground for their beliefs, and as a result, one Reddit community is beginning to eclipse Stormfront as the number one destination for hate on the web. Given that Stormfront has been linked to 100 murders at this point, stopping hate speech on Reddit has the possibility to save lives. White supremacists are fighting hard to keep their foothold on this site, so those of us who believe that #BlackLivesMatter must fight back.
To that end, I have started a campaign to petition Reddit's advertisers, asking them to pull their money from Reddit until Reddit bans hate speech outright. Past experience shows that Reddit will not act to protect women or people of color without public and financial pressure to do so. With your help, we will provide that pressure. You can sign our first petition here, and follow our campaign on Twitter and Tumblr to stay informed and engaged in the fight against hate speech on one of the largest websites in the world.