Issues Database

After banning the notorious r/jailbait subreddit in 2011, Reddit continued to face documented child sexual abuse material (CSAM) problems through the 2020s, including a 2021 federal lawsuit and sharply rising NCMEC CyberTipline reports as the platform expanded media sharing.

During Reddit's 2022 r/place collaborative pixel event, organized Twitch streamers led by xQc directed hundreds of thousands of viewers to seize and erase canvas territory, and Reddit administrators stepped in to cover xQc's artwork with a black box — the first time admins removed r/place art that was not hate speech.

Days after the GameStop squeeze, an investor filed a proposed securities-fraud class action alleging Keith Gill ('DeepFuckingValue'/'Roaring Kitty') hid that he was a licensed professional while promoting GameStop to retail traders.

On Feb. 18, 2021, the r/wallstreetbets figure 'DeepFuckingValue' testified before the House Financial Services Committee, denying he coordinated the GameStop squeeze and insisting he was an ordinary investor.

r/India, one of the largest country subreddits, has faced persistent accusations of opaque, politically biased moderation, including shadowbans and selective deletions around sensitive national events.

India's IT Rules 2021 and Section 69A blocking powers brought Reddit within a confidential, executive-driven content-takedown regime, with intermittent ISP-level blocking of Reddit reported across the period.

The SEC's October 2021 staff report on the GameStop episode concluded that broad positive sentiment — not a classic short or gamma squeeze — sustained the run-up, and flagged 'digital engagement practices' for further study.

Reddit's amateur-detective culture, centered on subreddits such as r/RBI ('Reddit Bureau of Investigation'), has been studied and criticized for crowd-sourced 'websleuthing' that can misidentify innocent people and degrade real investigations — a pattern documented in peer-reviewed research and journalism beyond the well-known Boston Marathon case.

After r/Screenwriting users called certain screenwriting competitions scams, the contests' operator sued the subreddit's volunteer moderator and 50+ unnamed users for defamation; the moderator was dismissed under Section 230.

Reddit removed WallStreetBets founder Jaime Rogozinski as a moderator in 2020 for 'attempting to monetize a community,' a move he later challenged in a 2023 lawsuit alleging the rationale was a pretext to control a valuable brand; courts ultimately ruled against him.

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society used a DMCA Section 512(h) subpoena to try to unmask an anonymous r/exjw critic; a federal court quashed it on fair-use and anonymous-speech grounds in March 2020.