Reddit quarantines Russian subreddits due to misinformation

While many online platforms have clearly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Reddit has a significantly different perspective on the invasion. An account dedicated to “[e]verything related to the country of Russia,” r/Russia’s top posts over the past few days have justified or defended the invasion. The subreddit also unleashed propaganda against the Ukrainian government. Claiming Ukrainian soldiers are Nazis who are harming people and calling for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be tried as a war criminal.

However, there have also been some posts based on reality, such as the disturbing reports of Ukrainian officials discriminating against refugees of coloured communities. A larger portion of the invasion-related content posted to r/Russia has been without basis, mischaracterised, or quickly debunked. Due to these dis- and misinformation issues, Reddit has now added r/Russia to its list of quarantined communities, just like the subreddit r/The_Donald before it.

Another subreddit r/RussiaPolitics has also been quarantined, just days after it was created in order to host invasion-related discussions.

“We are clear in our policies that moderators and users may not attempt to manipulate and interfere with the conversations or communities on our platform,” a Reddit spokesperson told Mashable.