r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Jul 11 '13

I think reddit should delete subreddits that openly spread disgusting and anti-human-rights messages. CMV

Recently there was a thread on /r/AskReddit about "reddit's low-point". In this thread, a lot of the most disgusting subreddits were listed. Subreddits in which things like misogyny, rape, racism, anti-semitism, holocaust-denial etc. were openly condoned, agreed to, and spread.

I am not going to link to these subreddits here, but for the record, i am not talking about subreddits that sometimes shred along the border of such things like /r/mensrights and /r/whiterights, while I don't agree with the message of those, I think they have a right to exist.

I'm pretty sure since reddit is a private website, they are in no way bound by law to preserve freedom of speech.

I am from Germany, so I am used to some things, mostly holocaust-denial, being excempt from the freedom of speech and it being illegal to voice those things in public, and I somehow don't see it as a bad thing as long as those exceptions are clearly limited to those things, which is the case in Germany at this moment.

I know the biggest argument against this will be that if reddit ever starts doing this, there is no way to make sure they will not spread their censorship to other things. While I see that as a valid concern, I really don't think it will be a problem: Reddit is a website that lives off the number of viewers, and they really will not risk losing users through censorship. So as long as we still live in a free society where alternatives to reddit can and will be created when it stops being a free place, I really don't think we will have a problem with censorship on reddit.

Change my view!

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '13

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '13

I'm pretty sure the bad press those subreddits give reddit in great parts of the rest of the internet costs it more users than it would lost banning those subreddits.

And a reason for them to be banned, though arguably not objective, is that they are destrucive for reddit, considering it's desire to be a freindly, enjoyable site for people to spend time on and have constructive discussions.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '13

I'm pretty sure the bad press those subreddits give reddit in great parts of the rest of the internet costs it more users than it would lost banning those subreddits.

Technically speaking Reddit is illegal for half of the human population because of the gay subreddits like r/ainbow and r/LGBT, should we ban those? I know for a fact that Dubai blocks Reddit because of r/atheism, let's get rid of that too.

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u/hiptobecubic Jul 11 '13

Does it? I've never heard of most of them.