March 2021 Subreddit Blackout
Overview
March 2021 Subreddit Blackout refers to a Reddit protest against the website hiring activist Aimee Challenor (who has been involved in two pedophilia-related scandals) as an admin and the related misuse of censorship by the Reddit admin team. The protest started on March 22nd, 2021, with the /r/ukpolitics subreddit going private after its moderator was permanently suspended for linking an article mentioning Challenor's name. On March 24th, following a protest that involved nearly 600 subreddits going private, Challenor was let go by the Reddit admin team.
Background
/r/ukpolitics Made Private
On March 22nd, 2021, a moderator of the /r/ukpolitics subreddit posted an article from the British online newspaper The Spectator[1] that contained a three-word mention, in passing, of a minor British public figure, Aimee Challenor (extract quoted below). Unbeknownst to the moderator, Challenor some time ago was hired by Reddit as an administrator.
The formidable feminist author and journalist Bea Campbell, a former Green party candidate, resigned from the party last year after being disciplined, in part for refusing to keep quiet about the shocking and disturbing Aimee Challenor case.
Following the post, the moderator who posted the article was permanently suspended from Reddit.[2] Immediately following the suspension, /r/ukpolitics subreddit moderators made the sub private and contacted the Reddit admin staff for clarification. /r/ukpolitics moderators later learned that Reddit hired Challenor as an admin and was acting with intention of preventing users from disclosing her personal information.
On March 23rd, 2021, Redditor[11] Stoicpeace made a post about the controversy in the /r/Drama subreddit. The post received over 1,100 upvotes in one day.
On March 23rd, 2021, /r/ukpolitics went public again. On the same day, the /r/ukpolitics[2] moderation team posted a statement regarding the events. In the statement, the moderation team deliberately refused to name the admin in question, writing that "Reddit […] were banning people from discussing her past to protect their employee from harassment."
Please do not name this individual, at all. Doing so may result in your account being banned by the admins.
Please do not ask further questions about this, as doing so may result in your account being banned by the admins.
On the same day, Redditor[3] ThisIsBanEvasion posted an inquiry about /r/ukpolitics going private, with the post gaining over 21,900 upvotes in one day. In the comment section, several users summarized available information about Challenor's past and wrote that discussions of Challenor got users suspended.[6][7][8]
Aimee Challenor
Aimee Challenor is a transgender activist who has previously been a member of the Liberal Democrats party and Green Party in the UK.
In January 2019, Challenor resigned from Green Party after failing to properly alert it of criminal charges against her father, who was charged with 22 offenses in November 2016, including rape and torture of a 10-year-old girl.[4] During the 2017 general election, Challenor's father acted as her agent. He was jailed for 22 years in August 2018.
In October 2019, Challenor was suspended from Liberal Democrats after the party launched an investigation into tweets posted on a Twitter account that belonged to a man Challenor was engaged to.[5] The tweets contained admissions to sexual fantasies involving minors. Challenor and her fiancé claimed that the Twitter account was hacked.
First Reddit Admin Staff Response
Later, on March 23rd, 2021, Reddit[9] admin staff made a clarification post regarding the situation (shown below, left). In the post, the staff wrote that, due to Challenor having been a target of harassment and doxxing earlier in March 2021, a standard anti-harassment process was put in place with the activation of an automated moderation rule to prevent personal information from being shared. The post stated that, due to the moderation rule being too broad, it erroneously suspended the /r/ukpolitics moderator. Following the clarification request from the /r/ukpolitics moderation team, the moderator was reinstated on the same day. An additional comment clarifying do and don'ts regarding personal information of Reddit admins was posted (shown below, right).[10]
Later that same day, /r/ukpolitics[2] moderation team commented on the official statement, communicating that they disagreed with the assertion.
We disagree with Reddit's assertion in their statement that an r/ukpolitics moderator posted "personal information" about a Reddit employee. It was a news article from a respected (if not universally popular) UK publication which included the name of the employee specifically in relation to their UK political history.
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Developments
Following the viral popularity of the /r/OutOfTheLoop post and growing awareness of the situation, starting on March 23rd, 2021, multiple subreddits went private, starting with several subreddits whose mod team included moderator Blank-Cheque. On that day, Blank-Cheque, moderator of /r/music, /r/listentothis, /r/Wellthatsucks and many other large subreddits, made a post explaining the reasons behind the blackout protest.[12]
If you've been linked to this page, you likely tried to view a subreddit that's been made private. You may be asking yourself "Why can't I look at teh memes and teh cat gifs??" I'll tell you why, young redditor:
It's because one of reddit's new employees is a close associate of child rapists & pedophiles, and the mods of the subreddit you're attempting to view think that's bad. They also think it's bad for reddit to be censoring any mention of this across the site, including banning people just for saying the name of said admin in a completely unrelated context.
The subreddits that went private during the blackout protest linked Blank-Cheque's post. The list[13] of subreddits that went private at various times on March 23rd and 24th included nearly 600 communities.
Second Reddit Admin Staff Response
On March 24, Reddit[14] admin spez posted an update on the situation, announcing that Challenor was let go from her position at the company.
Debate and criticism have always been and always will be central to conversation on Reddit — including discussion about public figures and Reddit itself — as long as they are not used as vehicles for harassment. Mentioning a public figure’s name should not get you banned.
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External References
[1] The Spectator – The Green party’s woman problem
[2] Reddit – Chaos at Reddit as dozens of subreddits made private in protest at site
[3] Reddit – Whats the deal with /r/UKPolitics going private and making a sticky about a new admin who cant be named or you will be banned?
[4] Independent – Aimee Challenor: Green star failed to properly alert party of father's child rape charges
[5] Coventry Observer – EXCLUSIVE: Transgender activist Aimee Challenor no longer in Coventry Liberal Democrats post – amid fresh probe into sick tweets
[6] Reddit – Puzzleheaded-Ad473
[7] Reddit – Mr-Zero-Fucks
[8] Reddit – Bleach1443
[9] Reddit – A clarification on actioning and employee names
[10] Reddit – landoflobsters
[11] Reddit – Dear Dramatards, I bring you actual dramatic drama(well basically copypasting this from Stupidpol).
[12] Reddit – 'Why is this subreddit private?' See here for answers!
[13] Reddit – List of Protesting Subreddits
[14] Reddit – An update on the recent issues surrounding a Reddit employee
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