More than 50 Reddit communities ban X links to protest Musk

The cascade of link bans on Reddit came after Musk made a hand gesture at a Monday rally that many compared to a Nazi salute.

After X owner Elon Musk made a hand gesture Monday that many people said resembled a Nazi salute, a protest movement has erupted across the social media platform Reddit.

NBC News has identified more than 50 subreddit communities where moderators have since announced that links from X, formerly Twitter, will no longer be allowed in new posts and comments. The communities protesting range in size from dozens of members to millions, totaling at least 40 million members. Typically, only a fraction of these members are active, particularly in older or larger subreddits. There are around 100,000 active subreddits on the platform.

In many of the posts announcing the new rules, moderators specifically mentioned the salute incident, which took place at a rally following President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

“Last night, at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and known alt-right personality, showed the world who he truly is, and performed a full Sieg Heil Nazi salute not once, but twice,” said the announcement post in the subreddit for “Destiny 2,” an online game, which has more than 900,000 members. “Here in r/destiny2, we do not tolerate Nazis. Anyone spouting Nazi ideology or hateful speech have, and always will be permanently banned on sight, without chance for appeal.”

During his speech at the post-inauguration rally, Musk said the 2024 election “really mattered” and thanked the crowd “for making it happen,” before placing his right hand on his chest and then extending his arm, palm facing down, at an upward angle. He then turned around and made the same gesture and said, “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/50-reddit-communities-ban-x-links-protest-musk-rcna188719

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