MORE TOPICS FOR YOU...
Reddit took action against COVID misinformation on its site.
Angela Lang/CNET
Reddit on Wednesday banned an active COVID misinformation subreddit. The move comes after other subreddits called on the site’s administrators to take more action against the spread of false information about the pandemic and vaccines.
An admin post in r/RedditSecurity confirmed that the subreddit r/NoNewNormal, which was full of COVID misinformation, was banned. Though the admin confirmed there’s been a “pronounced” increase in COVID denial since July — the same month federal and state governments began implementing vaccine mandates for employees — the reason for the subreddit’s banning was its connection to more than 80 brigades. A brigade involves members of one subreddit flooding another subreddit, usually to harass the other users.
The ban page seen when visiting r/nonewnormal.
The Reddit admin also said 54 other subreddits will be quarantined, which means they won’t be listed in search results on the site and won’t show up in certain Reddit feeds, such as Popular. NoNewNormal was quarantined on Aug. 11, but according to the admin, users on the subreddit continued their rule-breaking behavior.
More info to come.
