Summary

Hundreds of subreddits are debating banning links to X.com (formerly Twitter) following Elon Musk’s Nazi salute at a Trump rally.

Dozens of subreddit moderators have already implemented bans, while others are holding votes among their communities.

The bans span political, regional, and topical subreddits, including r/NewJersey, r/londonOntario, and r/christianity, with some highlighting Musk’s gesture alongside neo-Nazi imagery.

This move reflects growing backlash against Musk and his platform over perceived alignment with extremist symbolism.

  • chetradley@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    We’re spending so much media attention on this Nazi salute that I’m wondering if it may have been the intent all along - tie up media coverage while the Trump administration pushes harmful legislation through under the radar.

  • VerifiedSource@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    Boycotting Twitter is a good idea for many reasons. However this kind of blanket link ban will lead to more informational segregation quickly. This has already happened in many ways since the beginning of the war on Ukraine. Linking to Telegram or any Russian website is no longer allowed in many forums, e. g. Reddit. That has made finding original sources and verifying information much more difficult.

    Take links to videos for example. Reddit is full of videos copied from YouTube, Telegram, TikTok, etc. without attributing the original source. The World Wide Web was supposed to link information together into a network, where you can follow up on origins snd details. Nowadays it has turned into a series of copy & paste silos, enabling the most extreme echo chambers.

    • HolidayGreed@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      I think segregation is the long term plan.

      Divide and conquer.

      Knowledge is power; Wikipedia is next on the hit list.

      • VerifiedSource@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        I doubt there’s a plan behind this.

        Social media wasn’t the primary driver behind the Arab spring. The economic issues were the trigger. People couldn’t afford to buy food. Lack of food will topple any government. Media control only gets one so far.

        On the Internet the dominant websites can change quickly. Being banned from Twitter enabled Trump‘s Truth Social. Buying Twitter gave Elon Musk a giant soap box. However new soapboxes are constructed all the time and some succeed.

      • Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 days ago

        The changes in attitudes towards social media websites, caused in this instance by Elon Musk are a great way for those in power to suppress another Arab Spring type event in the future.

        The change in attitude is the consequence, not the cause. The best way for those in power to suppress another Arab Spring type event is a change in ownership of a massively influential social media platform where the richest man can take over completely to censor and control the narrative and oh, whoops… that already happened.

          • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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            7 days ago

            Banned is a bit of hyperbole. But it’s clear as day that most of the third places have evaporated over the years. You can blame some of it on economics, but there are prominent right wingers who have talked about changing the language so average Americans from different political systems aren’t able to have a civil conversations anymore, and the need to shut down third places that serve as a melting pot for ideas.

            When I was a child, I distinctly remember many occasions where family or friends would meet and discuss policy… not politicians, actual policy in a civil way. Now those discussions don’t happen, try to talk to a Conservative and see how long you can talk about policy before they bring up Trump, Pelosi or some other figure head.

  • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    I’ve banned new Teslas from going before me at stop signs, passing me on the freeway, and not being cut off by me within inches in the left lane at any opportunity I can take.

    Edit: was really expecting greater than zero downvotes for the last sentence. Thanks for letting me talk shit and knowing I’m not trying to endanger any safety for real

  • JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I wish I could stop using WhatsApp but that’s where all the people without phone plans are. I wish I could stop using Telegram but that’s where all the drug dealers are. I wish Reddit would ban X links, but that’s where all the sassy hot takes are.

    • lurklurk@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      You can of course, you’re just chosing to support zuck, musk and durov because it’s slightly inconvenient for you not to

      Of those three, telegram isn’t as bad though. They’re insecure and share data with law enforcement etc, but they’re not as active and enthusiastic collaborators with Trump

      • JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        My point is the network effect. That’s where people are and I have no power to change that, so that is where I must sometimes be. If it was up to me, things would be wonderful and open source. But I sometimes have to deal with — ugh… humans.

        • lurklurk@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          It is up to you though. I get that you can make the choice that supporting zuck and musk is an OK price to pay to not have to do a little more work or be the annoying person saying “I only have Signal” but it is very much your choice. You could choose differently, if your priorities were different

          • JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            India alone is about 2 billion people who all use WhatsApp. I cannot change the world. I hear you and would love for us all to switch to federated or — at least — decentralized things, or whatever. I will advocate for it, but like banks and shit are using WhatsApp. It is legitimized here even more than MMS. I can’t stop it. And yes, I have made the choice to communicate with humans rather than using Signal.

          • lenuup@reddthat.com
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            7 days ago

            I did that for a while. The thing that happened was that I got left out of stuff, because people didn’t always think of informing me separately, when it was already discussed in the already existing groups. Sometimes they would inform me after all the planning was done what the plans were, sometimes I got a last minute info or no info at all. So the choice was between a significant loss in my social life and using the same service as everyone else in my social circles.

          • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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            7 days ago

            Some of us value our social connections more I guess? I still use WhatsApp and I have no control over those around me to use otherwise. As already stated it’s the network effect. The vast majority of people do not care about Telegram or Signal.

          • Nalivai@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            If Telegram receives a valid order from the relevant judicial authorities that confirms you’re a suspect in a case involving criminal activities that violate the Telegram Terms of Service, we will perform a legal analysis of the request and may disclose your IP address and phone number to the relevant authorities.

            Doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. And more importantly doesn’t seem insecure to me.

            • lurklurk@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              The insecure bit is that they don’t e2e-encrypt by default, so they have access to the data. In theory someone could hack telegram’s servers and steal it. In theory someone might have done that already.

              Signal in contrast couldn’t really give your data away, without hiding a backdoor in the client or encryption, which someone could then find.

              I thought telegram were now also sharing message content with law enforcement, but it seems they claim to only share IP address and phone numbers. We have no way of verifying that, but it’s still better than I remembered.

              It might or might not matter for you of course.

  • pyre@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    eh, spez is probably going to step in and force them back to require Twitter or something. he wouldn’t want to be pushed out of the oligarchy.

    fuck spez in advance

  • ZK686@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    The bots are going nuts over there… lol… no way the TOP comments of some of those are legit…

  • berno@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    It’s actually scary how much of Reddit is full of astroturf and overly sensitive moderators these days. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

  • Dragon@lemmy.ml
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    7 days ago

    Are there other sites to which links are banned? I don’t really like that policy for anything no matter how nefarious. Unless it’s malware or a liability and going to land the visitor in prison.

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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      7 days ago

      Porn sites without strict CSAM, malicious injection or spam protection, many individual subs ban extreme right-wing sites, Fox News or opposite left-etc

      • Dragon@lemmy.ml
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        7 days ago

        I have less of an issue with individual communities banning certain links, I think an instance-wide ban on anything due to ideology is annoying. I can figure out that Nazis suck on my own, thank you.

    • Omega@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      I have an account for a few specific subs (that shut down during the strike) that don’t have Lemmy equivalents. But I really don’t browse. The only time I get on there is to check reactions to big events (football games, new movies, etc). And even then it’s pretty rare.

        • slax@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          Thanks for that. I have always been a lurker on reddit and Lemmy (and the other platforms). It’s really pushed me to join and have a voice here.

        • Jeffool @lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          To anyone else out there thinking about this? Do it. I took over /c/gamedev a couple of months back. Not because I dislike anytging about r/gamedev, but because I want more than one place for that kind of thing on the Internet, and am beginning less of a fan of reddit itself.

          (And yes, it’s slow going, especially with the holidays and job hunting. But I’m okay with that.)

            • Jeffool @lemmy.world
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              7 days ago

              Hey, I’m just a hobbyist. (I’ve tooled around with the programming and made a few things I never released, but I work in journalism, and not games journalism!) If there’s a community you want to help, the best thing you can do is comment, upvote, and when possible, make a post. And if you want to RUN one, trying is better than just letting things not exist. If people don’t like it, they can downvote your posts. That’s fine too.

              • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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                7 days ago

                I’m a professional embedded systems engineer, and I do have some hobby projects related to game dev, and I do intend to share when I have something shareable!

                • Jeffool @lemmy.world
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                  7 days ago

                  You’re closer to a “gamedev” than me, then. You’re an actual “dev” of some type! That said, I’m still trying to find the character of /c/gamedev, so feel free to toss in things you want to see there.

        • Omega@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          I appreciate the support. I actually do post in those situations. And when I say there isn’t a Lemmy equivalent, I mean those communities are dead.

          I just like to see what other people’s reactions are, and I like to see some of other people’s content from time to time. Also, I don’t mind supporting those subs that stood up to the 3rd party app purge.

    • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      That won’t happen. As Twitter dies those users have to go somewhere. While Reddit isn’t a direct competitor as a service, it is in terms of time/eyeballs.

      Ideally folks would move to Mastodon/Lemmy/etc, but that’s a different problem.

      • 3dmvr@lemm.ee
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        7 days ago

        Issue is bluesky is where they’re going but from what I’ve read a bridge could be made? Still very new to this, not sure how that would work.

    • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
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      7 days ago

      Or until 2 days, like most (or many) of the subreddits participating in the blackout lol