Social discussion website Reddit has shut down a number of extremist forums, particularly Nazi, racist and white supremacist groups, as it updates policies regarding violent content.
According to the latest update, users should not post "content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people."
With this, the website quickly removed the following forums: r/NationalSocialism, r/Nazi, r/whitesarecriminals, r/far_right and r/DylannRoofInnocent, among others.
The update also prohibits users from posting any content that "glorifies or encourages the abuse of animals," bestiality-themed pages included.
The website clarified that it understands that there are various reasons for posting violent content. Some can be educational, newsworthy, artistic or satirical. It advised users to be more careful with their future posts and make their context clear as to not be banned.
Reddit moderator landoflobsters said in a post that the update was done to better reflect their values as a company. He added that the regulation will apply to all content such as memes, community styling, flair, subreddit names and usernames.
This move is a huge shift for the website, which is widely known for allowing sensitive content that is normally banned on mainstream social media sites.
Talking to BBC, legal expert Prof. Eric Heinze of Queen Mary, University of London said this move suggests that Reddit is starting to position itself as a mainstream business. According to him, when companies grow, they often forget their nonconformist origins and start caring about social norms and public relations.
However, he also added that bans like this can be easily evaded by those who really want to express their controversial views.
"Instead of a gross attack against black people, for example, it'll just be things about 'preserving our identity.' They find a coded speech that everyone understands," Heinze said.
Users who have reservations about the update can ask questions to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman via the site's main announcement board next week.
