We’re letting private companies control our public discourse and they are polluting our democracy Reddit is a multimillion dollar company that relies on amateur moderators who provide free labour and have arbitrary power over what news millions see We need to take these platforms more seriously - ThreadSky

lukelebrun.ca • 126 days ago

We’re letting private companies control our public discourse and they are polluting our democracy

Reddit is a multimillion dollar company that relies on amateur moderators who provide free labour and have arbitrary power over what news millions see

We need to take these platforms more seriously

Reposted from Rachel Gilmore

Something stinks on Canada’s largest Reddit forum.

It just banned journalist @lukelebrun.ca.

His crime? Asking why his scoop on an anti-LGBTQ activist ambushing Trudeau in B.C. was removed.

He’s not the first to notice something seriously fishy over there.

SUBSCRIBE: rachelgilmore.substack.com

Comments

genderqueeries.ca•126 days ago

To say nothing of cases where mods of meme subreddits were found to be running meme generation sites

genderqueeries.ca•126 days ago

Free labour implies the mods aren't being paid on the side by marketers or influence operations.

Lots of suspicious activity for the last few years as "site:reddit.com" became a Google trick.

lukelebrun.ca•126 days ago

I’ve also wondered about this – particularly what, if anything, there is to stop someone from doing that

thesaurusrextual.bsky.social•126 days ago

"just dont use the service" - me in the 2003 - 2006 era

also a big hit "just don't buy the microtransactions, don't participate," - me to other gamers in the 2000s and 2010s.

Nobody ever fucking listens, and people are mean so I delete my accounts. 30 gd years online man....

thesaurusrextual.bsky.social•126 days ago

"reddit is going to use my posts for AI I gotta form a class action lawsuit or make a bot to nuke my posts"
"okay but you are also going to stop using the site right?"

jerryluu.bsky.social•126 days ago

r/vancouver mods used to get paid by the real estate industry

sparky57a.bsky.social•125 days ago

i got into quora for a while til i figured i was arguing with bots. and stayed clear of reddit. give me an olk BBS or revive an old flamewar channel on IRC then i will be happy.

webstarvancity.bsky.social•126 days ago

Not disagreeing but when is the last time a good chunk of our public discourse was delivered by anything other than a private company? CBC notwithstanding, I am an avid consumer of independent journalism but I am in the vast minority of the splits here. It's just gotten more concentrated maybe?

derek.bsky.social•126 days ago

1000%. Reddit has been a dangerous force for years now, and one that has escaped scrutiny that other social media companies have faced (not that it changed anything).

patboivin.bsky.social•126 days ago

Reddit is basically a bulletin board system (BBS) like in the 1990s except it is accessible on the World Wide Web (WWW) rather than via phone line modem.
You can create your own subreddit if you like.
Same thing on Discord.

lukelebrun.ca•126 days ago

I don't want to create my own subreddit, I want this company to understand it has responsibilities to the public

patboivin.bsky.social•126 days ago

My point was that probably one person created that subreddit. By law in ghe US, platforms are not responsible for content but some do choose to moderate a little. Usually because advertisers tell them to.

leftcoastscott.bsky.social•126 days ago

r/Canada was essentially taken over by a group of right wing mods some years back. I hardly ever posted there, but at one point they mass-banned everyone who'd posted to any of a list of "left wing" subs, and got me. r/onguardforthee is a more inclusive alternative, but not as big.

elquintron.bsky.social•126 days ago

Was coming here to say exactly this.

carlmarxman.bsky.social•126 days ago

So... A Canadian government owned social media network?

I did suggest to my MP that it might not be a bad idea to buy twitter. It might be up for sale on the cheap soon.

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