Another boycott of Reddit: some of the most popular subreddits open their doors to porn

Thousands of subreddits are still rebelling against Reddit, after the introduction of a payment API that led to the closure of third-party clients such as Apollo, and the stupid statements of Steve Huffman, the platform’s CEO. This led to a large number of communities being closed for several days in protest. And this week, some of the most popular subreddits have decided to come out of the blackout, but continue the boycott in a new way: opens its doors to porn.

There are several subreddits that have become public again, but reclassified as Not safe for work (NSFW). Some of the biggest cases are r/interestingasfuck which has over 11 million members and r/TIHI with 2.6 million or/videos (26.7 million). But not the only ones. Some communities dedicated to Apple, such as r/HomePod, have also reopened under the aforementioned label.

However, just because some of the most popular Reddit subreddits allow sexually explicit content doesn’t mean that they now only include porn. In some cases, such as r/interestingasfuck, it actually happened that there was a stream of pornographic material in the first hours of this new measure. However, soon most NSFW posts in the community they have become memes related to the topic. In other cases, the content has not changed, but still requires the user’s consent to view it.

Rule changes and the boycott of Reddit, which is running its course

It is worth noting that subreddits, which now allow the posting of porn or other inappropriate content, they had to change their rules. In the case of r/TIHI –Thank you I hate this or Thank you, I hate it – were blunt about resolve:

“We are removing Rule 3, which bans extreme NSFW content. The main purpose of our subreddit is to allow users to express what they really hate. We feel like we are limiting our content too much, especially in regards to NSFW.” so we removed this rule. As long as it’s legal under US law and they hate it, we encourage them to post it. To ensure that our subreddit complies with Reddit’s terms of service, this will also mean that this subreddit will be tagged +18.”

Meanwhile, in the case of r/videos, the community now also welcomes inappropriate content. However, supports the rule that all posts should be about John OliverBritish comedian and show host Last week tonight, from HBO and HBO Max. It’s understandable that it’s unlikely that any intimate video of the aforementioned will surface, but it’s a way to support the boycott against Reddit.

Some popular subreddits provide access to NSFW content.

It is clear that NSFW content is not limited to pornography, although the vast majority of it is. However, it is clear that the subreddits that now support it they are not going to become the new r/gonewild. What they want is just to make things a little more difficult for Reddit in the midst of this kind of conflict.

By allowing community members to post inappropriate content, whether or not it is sexual in nature, Reddit can’t monetize them. This is part of the platform’s policy that, as of 2019, it no longer shows ads on NSFW subreddits and does not allow ads related to adult products or services to be included.

So the normal subreddit becomes NSFW this is nothing more than a blow to the pockets of Reddit and its commercial strategy. Although it is also a reality that the platform of Steve Huffman did not sit idly by during the new boycott.

Actually, subreddits like r/TIHI and r/interestingasfuck now appear without moderators. This is because Reddit removed them from their features after changing the categories to allow inappropriate content. A company representative confirmed edge that “mislabeling a community as NSFW” violates the content policy and moderator code of conduct.

The truth is that this story is not over yet and promises to tell a lot. We will be watching closely as this conflict continues to escalate, this is far from Reddit’s only headache.. Let’s not forget that a group of hackers are threatening the platform to release stolen sensitive data unless it pays a million dollar ransom and cancels the implementation of its new API.