Maybe or 6-7 years ago now Reddit decided to remove some extremely objectionable subreddits such as those that sexualise minors, then shortly after that it took action to remove subreddits which had been deemed extremely offensive by some higher ups at the company. During these times I remember people both on here and on Reddit were extremely concerned. I remember that although most people didn't like these subreddits they felt these actions might spell the beginning of further restrictions to their speech on the platform - a platform which once believed strongly in the principles of freedom of speech. If I remember correctly there was even significant media attention and many Reddit users were so upset they attempted to boycott Reddit.
However now Reddit bans subreddits all the time. Twitter and Facebook delete the accounts of individuals at a whim, even they're publicly relevant or political candidates. And the sad thing is no one really cares any more. We just accept it as the new normal. Now if the media reports on it they often celebrate it. It was deserved they say, based of course solely on their subjective moral objections.
It's quite a balanced perspective, especially given the subreddit being banned in this case is /r/jailbait. I can't imagine anyone arguing that Reddit should allow that subreddit to exist today.
I suppose it surprises me how quickly perspectives have changed given we all now seem to accept private companies have the right to censor our legal speech online.
I personally don't like swearing, yet I don't believe others should be banned from swearing.
I don't like offensive subreddits like fatpeoplehate, but I don't think offensiveness should be banned. However, I understand that today I'm in a minority of individuals who believe people have the right to offend. I'm just not sure what changed, I know it wasn't always like this.
If anyone was too put out by Reddit's actions they could always start up their own site where they could sexualize minors or whatever else was dropped by Reddit.
However now Reddit bans subreddits all the time. Twitter and Facebook delete the accounts of individuals at a whim, even they're publicly relevant or political candidates. And the sad thing is no one really cares any more. We just accept it as the new normal. Now if the media reports on it they often celebrate it. It was deserved they say, based of course solely on their subjective moral objections.
It's really quite worrying.
Edit: Found the thread if anyone is interested: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3585997
It's quite a balanced perspective, especially given the subreddit being banned in this case is /r/jailbait. I can't imagine anyone arguing that Reddit should allow that subreddit to exist today.
I suppose it surprises me how quickly perspectives have changed given we all now seem to accept private companies have the right to censor our legal speech online.