Under Google’s new policies earlier this week, YouTube banned videos that promote, link to, or sell firearms, many channels are seeking other platforms to continue posting videos . Some displaced users have registered at adult content websites, according to Bloomberg .
Craigslist then announced their decision to take down the entire “Personals” section according to the new FOSTA law. This law holds websites accountable for allowing sex trafficking and “unlawful sex acts.” Also, people who operate websites that allow sex trafficking are subject to fines and prison sentences, detailed BBC News .
Now, Reddit has joined in implementing new bans on their site. Presumably, to align themselves with the new FOSTA law, they have eliminated subreddits that have “paid services involving physical sexual contact.” So far, the deleted groups include r/escorts and r/sugardaddy. However, r/sexworkers is still active, because the latter does not promote or allow transactions or advertisements.
Reddit, in a move similar to YouTube, also deleted communities that solicit, facilitate, sell, or gift firearms, ammunition, or explosives. Shoplifting communities are now banned , as well as any that involve drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or any controlled substance. A Reddit representative clarified on their policy announcement page that alcohol swaps fall under the “sale” category since there’s no guarantee that all of the swaps are between adults over the age of 21.
According to BBC News , this has so far affected potentially 250,000 users from around 50 subreddits. Users are also tracking a list of banned subreddits at r/reclassified , which has been used since before the new policy updates. The list includes many subreddits that dealt with dark web topics.
Some are complaining about certain bans on the policy announcement page , including the ban on legal substances, like cigar trades and craft beer trades. Also, the banning of r/gundeals is causing a stir, detailed CNET . Users say the page was only linking to other legal online stores and was not being used to facilitate transactions between users.
The ban comes after a series of controversial sites being shut down since late 2017. Some of these included pages that featured AI-generated adult content, and pages that discriminated against others according to gender, according to TechCrunch and Esquire .
