The social media website Reddit is facing accusations from a Republican lawmaker of “ideologically motivated election interference” following a decision by those in charge of the website to “quarantine” a highly trafficked forum dedicated to supporters of President Donald Trump.
Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) wrote to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman on Tuesday to demand that he immediately restore access to users of the website’s “The_Donald” forum, where over 750,000 users discuss the president and his administration.
The forum has been effectively banned, or “quarantined,” in Reddit’s terms, due to threats made earlier this year by some users against law enforcement and public figures, in violation of the website’s terms of service. When a forum is hit with this designation it becomes much more difficult to find and interact with.
Banks said that while some of the language used may have initially warranted a quarantine, Reddit is now using it as an excuse to keep the forum offline. This behavior, Banks maintained, “amounts to ideologically motivated election interference.”
“I’m writing to you to request that you approve the quarantine appeal for the subreddit, r/The_Donald. Although the initial imposition of the quarantine may have been justified, its continuation in the face of r/The_Donald’s compliance with sitewide content policies and ahead of the 2020 election amounts to ideologically motivated election interference,” Banks wrote, according to a copy of the letter shared with the Washington Free Beacon. – READ MORE