For this entire calendar year, Reddit, “the front page of the internet,” has been waging a secret war on one of its most popular and active subreddits: The Donald. Created around the time of President-elect Donald Trump’s presidential bid announcement, this community of brave souls who were courageous enough to proclaim themselves pro-Trump on a website as public as Reddit started off small, with only about 6,000 subscribers after its first six months of existence. Then, sometime around February, an inexplicable spike in subscribers was initiated and has yet to show signs of slowing down. Now with more than 300,000 subscribers, or “centipedes” as they are called on the subreddit, The Donald has become one of the most cohesive, discussion-based and meme-making subreddits in the website’s history.
Despite the subreddit’s incredible growth and harmless, yet powerful, meme-making capabilities, it has recently been revealed that some of Reddit’s leaders, including its CEO, Steve Huffman, have (supposedly) been plotting and acting against The Donald. Although many on The Donald have been claiming Reddit altered its upvote algorithm to give posts and news on the subreddit less attention on the site, substantial evidence has come out in the last week showing Huffman and his peers apparently discussing how to “control” the subreddit during a chat session.
Huffman has admitted to editing posts on The Donald, blatantly abusing his power as the head of Reddit. Specifically, he claims to have deleted his own personal account name from the comment section and replaced it with the names of various moderators of the subreddit.
Huffman might have released a poor apology about the incident, but the damage has already been done. Both members of The Donald and numerous other Redditors are questioning the validity of the site and trustworthiness of those running it. For a site that so avidly proclaims free speech and open discussion, having its own CEO screwing around with the discussions of a group he disagrees with is extremely detrimental to the health of the site.
Since its beginnings, Reddit has been a wonderful place where people from all walks of life can discuss topics of their choosing. Thousands of tightly knit communities operate within Reddit 24/7, all comprised of diverse individuals with a shared interest and love of a particular topic. For some, it might be a sports team or musical group; for others, a book series or video game. But the common thread of all of these subreddits is the camaraderie of digitally interacting with people who love your hobby just as much as you, whether they live next door or across an ocean.
The Donald, a subreddit passionately dedicated to the president-elect, has been the single-most fascinating community I have ever experienced online. Its strong sense of togetherness and fiery passion for memes and discussion is remarkable, and by being on and watching the subreddit during election night, I was the most entertained I have ever been while online. I could not help but think during that night that this is what the internet is truly for: freely interacting with others around the globe, all who fervently love to discuss the same subjects as you.
For a long time, Reddit has been the platform on which one can experience said interactions. However, much of the site’s reputation has been rooted in the ideals of free speech and open discussion. When the CEO of Reddit admits to having edited comments criticizing him on a subreddit that he does not agree with, there is a very serious problem. The individual comments themselves do not matter, but this story is once again an issue that centers around a much larger idea: free speech on the internet. Reddit cannot claim to be home to free speech when those running it are messing around with the words of users who don’t agree with them. Huffman himself might have called all of this a “joke,” or a way “to give the bullies a hard time,” but such feckless apologies are utterly useless now. The irreversible damage to users’ trust in Reddit has already been done.
Andrew Hall is a UF management junior. His column appears on Fridays.
