Reddit CEO rejects call for a crackdown on coronavirus misinformation

REDDIT is pressing against calls for the company to do a better job of deformation of moderation. In a thread entitled Debate, Dissension and Protest in Reddit, CEO Steve Huffman said that the company would continue to point out users to the authorized information of the CDC when dealing with the erroneous information related to Covid-19. What is not going to do is prohibit the communities that “challenge the opinions of consensus on the pandemic”.

“Dissideditional is part of Reddit and the basis of democracy. Reddit is a place for open and authentic discussion and debate,” said Huffman in a thread that is blocked, preventing Reddit users to respond directly. “This includes conversations that question or do not agree with the popular consensus. This includes talks that criticize those who do not agree with the majority opinion. This includes protests that criticize U object our decisions on which the communities are prohibited from the platform “.

Huffman’s statement does not refer to a specific community or incident, but as the vice points out, which probably promoted him to say anything at all it was a r / vaxxhapped thread, a subnetdit, where people share memes about anti-vaxxers . “We call Reddit to take action against the misinformation of Rampante Coronavirus on its website,” says the title of the publication, which accuses Reddit to do “nothing of the substance” to address the problem of erroneous information on the platform. As of the drafting of this article, it has almost 170,000 upvotes, with several other communities that pass through the thread to their subnetts.

“We could have been better the months, but it has been allowed to disinform and the lies spread easily through inaction and malice, and have dragged this at the cost of lives,” says the publication. “There can be no room for indulgence when people are dying as a result of erroneous information on this platform. Reddit as a global platform needs to assume responsibility here.”

While Reddit is often not mentioned with the same breath as Facebook and Twitter, the platform is a source of disinformation. You can visit several communities on the website that constantly shares the theories of Covid-19 conspiracy. The only road block that prevents access is a destination page that warns you that it is about to enter a subnet that has been “quarantined” by the company to share the erroneous information.