Reddit quarantined pro-Trump forum “The_Donald” for calls to violence. Trump’s team has relied on that forum for content.

Written by Cristina López G.

Published


Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Today, Reddit put subreddit “The_Donald” -- its most prominent forum for supporters of President Donald Trump -- under quarantine due to “threats of violence against police and public officials,” as confirmed by a Reddit spokesperson. Trump has relied more than once on the subreddit for digital content to amplify from his own social media accounts.

Looks like they've answered @crislopezg's question https://t.co/C2zoODnrTe

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) June 26, 2019

As Media Matters previously reported, the subreddit “The_Donald” was full of posts calling for or glorifying violence, in open violation of Reddit’s “account and community restrictions.” While Reddit has previously shut down other subreddits for violations of this policy, “The_Donald” was merely quarantined. As explained by the platform’s rules, a quarantine restricts a subreddit “from being accidentally viewed by those who do not wish to do so” because its contents are “extremely offensive or upsetting to the average redditor.” The platform cited a sensitivity to “political speech” in its explanation for why it was placing the pro-Trump forum under quarantine.

Official statement from a Reddit spokesperson pic.twitter.com/E6W31z7V1s

— Ali Breland (@alibreland) June 26, 2019

The forum has historically served Trump and his staffers as a useful mine for memes and other digital content. As reported by Politico, Trump’s social media director, Dan Scavino, “regularly monitors Reddit, with a particular focus on the pro-Trump” subreddit “The_Donald,” which likely explains, for example, a Trump tweet directed at Rosie O’Donnell containing a point that was made 20 minutes before on Reddit’s “The_Donald.”  

On different occasions, Trump tweeted out videos that originated on “The_Donald,” including one that depicted the president beating up CNN, and another one in which he amplified an unhinged get-out-the-vote video. While Trump and his staff have made no secret of their reliance on the prominent pro-Trump forum for the production of digital propaganda, their amplification of the forum’s content also implies validation of its most toxic posts, of which a limited sample includes:

  • Screenshots from Gab, the platform known as a “haven for white nationalists” and the site where the alleged Pittsburgh, PA, synagogue shooter often posted.

One of the top upvoted posts in the past 24 hours on The Donald subreddit -- which is regularly monitored by Trump's social media director -- is about a post from a far-right figure on white nationalist haven Gab who the alleged Pittsburgh synagogue shooter shared content from. pic.twitter.com/sF8MDqZ7TP

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) May 17, 2019

  • Posts pushing the debunked conspiracy theory that a Democratic National Committee staffer, Seth Rich, was murdered for his involvement in leaking stolen emails.

Even though the Mueller report directly debunked the Seth Rich conspiracy theory, The Donald subreddit -- material from which has repeatedly been used for Trump's Twitter account -- is still pushing it. pic.twitter.com/svYOB3Ldc9

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) April 20, 2019

  • A post pushing an absurd hoax targeting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin.

One of the top upvoted posts on The Donald subreddit in the past 24 hours pushed a hoax that a video exists of Hillary Clinton & Huma Abedin drinking children's blood in a Satanic ritual. https://t.co/ejcEhVTEzr pic.twitter.com/kLP20x8RNs

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) June 18, 2019