A few anti-vaccine subreddits have popped up on Reddit over the past months. And in response, a selection of other subreddits are calling on Reddit to remove these subreddits - which are often full of misinformation - from the platform.

Well, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman (spez) has responded, essentially with ‘no’:

Dissent is a part of Reddit and the foundation of democracy.

He does on to say:

Reddit is a place for open and authentic discussion and debate.

(This was said in a post which has the comments turned off.)

Censorship is always a very tricky subject. By and large I am dead against it on the web. I want it be open and free. However, rampant lies and the purposeful spreading of misinformation about something so vital as the COVID-19 vaccine does come rather close to needing some stronger vetting by Reddit, in my opinion.

Either way, Huffman’s rather blunt and heavy-handed statement was probably not the best way for Reddit to announce its decision to allow anti - and most likely wrong - COVID-19 vaccine viewpoints and I expect an updated statement for ‘clarity’ in a day or two.

• CENSORSHIP
• COVID19
• REDDIT