Reddit communities have begun to introduce a ban on links to X/Twitter in protest to Elon Musk’s controversial arm gesture at Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The incident took place on Monday (January 20), when the President-elect was sworn into the White House for the second time. During the inauguration ceremonies, the tech billionaire and SpaceX and Tesla CEO addressed the crowd and extended his arm upwards with the palm facing down.
He then turned around to crowd members behind the podium and repeated the gesture. Many have since compared it to a Nazi salute.
Musk has since dismissed the rumours calling them “tired” and an attempt at “dirty tricks”, however, many users on Reddit are taking action to have content from X/Twitter banned on the platform.
It comes as Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 and later rebranded it as X.
At time of writing, outlets like BBC News have reported that over 100 Reddit communities have blocked users from posting links to X in a protest to Musk.
This has not been implemented by Reddit creators and is not a sitewide ban – with developers telling BBC that it “has a longstanding commitment to freedom of speech – however, it has extended to some far-reaching subreddit communities.
According to the outlet, at least 100 subreddits have banned X posts and more than 60 of which have at least 100,000 members. Among the biggest are basketball community r/NBA (over 15million members), female-focused community r/TwoXChromosomes, (14 million members), and r/NFL (12 million members).
Others implementing the ban reportedly include fans of football clubs Liverpool, Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur, fans of Formula 1, and fan communities for games including Baldur’s Gate 3 and World of Warcraft.
As per BBC, subreddits for communities in New Jersey and South Korea have also blocked posts to X, while moderators of Maine and British Columbia communities shared statements confirming that they will not be taking part.
Although it does not seem likely that the ban on Reddit communities will last long or make a notable impact on Musk, the bans are likely to reduce traffic, engagement and revenue for X.
Others who have spoken out against Musk following the gesture include his estranged daughter, Vivian Wilson, who said “let’s call a spade a fucking spade”, and Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe who branded him as a “fucking asshole”.
Before then, Grimes – the musician who was previously in a relationship with Musk and shares multiple children with him – distanced herself from him online, My Chemical Romance’s Frank Iero called him out, and Green Day took aim while on stage in South Africa.
Even ahead of the gesture, a number of famous faces left the social media site following Musk’s takeover. “Time to go,” wrote The Cure‘s Robert Smith earlier this month while The Last Dinner Party quit X at the end of last year due to “the platform’s continued spread of misinformation and right-wing political bias”.