Reddit "Kim" Ban Messages

Submission 5,021

Part of a series on /r/Pyongyang. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Reddit "Kim" Ban Messages refers to the Reddit AutoModerator bot message enabled in the /r/JusticeServed subreddit, which is generated in response to users writing the word "Kim" in the comments. On October 5th, 2019, after a video from a UFC fight between fighters Nadia Kassem and Ji Yeon Kim was posted in the subreddit, the response was triggered by users multiple times, with the subreddit moderators also editing the bot's responses with the purpose of entertainment.

Background

On December 21st, 2011, satirical subreddit /r/Pyongyang was created by Redditor Kim_Il-sung.^[1] In the following months, the subreddit has become a running joke among Redditors who would often reply to those speaking negatively about the DPRK with “you have been banned from /r/pyongyang,” and conversely, those speaking in favor of North Korea with “you have become a moderator of /r/pyongyang.”

On January 3rd, 2013, /r/JusticeServed subreddit was created.^[2] During the initial period following the subreddit's creation, the community moderators included "Kim" (as in the North Korea's leader name Kim Jong-un) to the list of the trigger words for the subreddit, with AutoModerator bot responding to those using the word in the comments with the message "You have been banned from /r/pyongyang" (example shown below). The generated message bore humorous purposes only and did not result in users being banned from any subreddit.

Notable Developments

On October 5th, 2019, Redditor /r/Glorusion posted a video from a UFC fight between fighters Nadia Kassem and Ji Yeon Kim in which Kassem fake touched Kim's glove in order to sneak in an attack.^[3] The post received over 40,800 upvotes in two days and reached the front page of the site.

In the comment section of the post, multiple users used the name "Kim" to refer to one of the fighters featured in the video, with the AutoModerator bot replying with the autogenerated message (examples shown below).^[4]^[5]

In the following hours, multiple Reddit users noticed the autogenerated messages and wrote "Kim" in this and other threads on the site on purpose. At the same time, /r/JusticeServed moderation team altered the auto-generated message to make the impression that Redditors were being banned from several other subreddits in addition to /r/pyongyang, as well as made custom responses.^[6] No actual bans were given.

On October 6th, 2019, /r/JusticeServed moderator JusticeServedBot provided an explanation for the situation.^[8]

Online Reactions

On October 5th, 2019, Redditor RandomGuyJCI posted an inquiry about "Kim" comments to /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit, with the post receiving over 3,000 upvotes in two days.^[7]