In the last 24 hours, dozens of subreddits have decided to block references to X in their communities, and the movement seems to be gaining momentum across Reddit. Hundreds more appear to be actively discussing or considering similar moves with their members.
The movement appears to have been popularized, at least in part, by r/newjersey, whose moderators announced a ban on X-links on Tuesday. “Fuck this guy. X-links are now banned from r/newjersey,” they wrote in a post that received more than 65,000 likes. The post was accompanied by a photo of Elon Musk extending his hand: during his speech at Donald Trump’s inauguration, Musk made two explicitly Nazi salutes that were widely celebrated by fascists online.
A number of other subredditors quickly followed suit, many of them sharing a link to the r/newjersey post. X-links have been banned on r/military (489,000 members), r/comics (2.7 million), r/casualnintendo (184,000), r/spiderman (1 million), r/pcgaming (3.8 million), r/rupaulsdragrace (1 million), r/KingdomHearts (345,000), r/therapists (142,000), and many others. “We weren’t trying to start a trend, and we never expected to go viral,” the moderators of r/newjersey said in a statement to Engadget. “Not everyone will agree with our choice, but Reddit has always been a place where each community can decide these things for themselves. If our announcement has inspired discussions about the role of social media in our time, we think that’s a good thing.”
Many moderators, when announcing the ban on X-links, also referred to the fact that X makes it increasingly difficult for users to view posts if they are not logged in. “There is no doubt that Twitter has become a low-quality source in recent years: login requirements, a flood of bots, prioritization of content from paid users, and promotion of sensationalized content,” the moderators of r/formula1 wrote in their post. “But unlike news sites in our source ranking system, there was really no alternative for Twitter.”
Instead, the subreddit encourages members to share content with Bluesky, which does not require logging in to view posts. Moderators have stated that they will allow “screenshots of relevant posts from teams, drivers, and Formula One” if the same content is not available elsewhere.
Moderators of r/antiwork, which has 2.9 million members, noted that their rules prohibit links and screenshots to X and all other social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and even LinkedIn. “We’d like the anti-work message to come organically from you, here in the OC form, but if it comes from a photo or posting something else that catches our eye, we want that too,” they wrote. “Just not from Twitter.”
Many other subreddits are considering similar measures. Moderators of r/dnd (4 million members), r/baseball (2.8 million), r/AlanWake (80,000) and r/Xmen (270,000) are currently conducting surveys among their members. The moderators of r/hockey (2.7 million), r/georgia (237,000) and r/popheads (2.8 million) also reported that they are discussing a potential ban.
Not all moderators were receptive to such a ban when it was raised. The moderator of r/chess said that such a ban would “create a certain logistical problem” for the community. “The sad reality is that Twitter is the source of much of the content on the subreddit,” they wrote. “Thus, a ban would require some changes to the rules. We are open to suggestions, but cannot promise anything at this time.” Similarly, the moderator of r/fauxmoi, a subreddit dedicated to gossip, noted that “we prefer to keep the links to make sure people don’t send fake or fake screenshots.”
While this is far from the first time that redditors have banded together in protest, it is noteworthy that so many of them are calling for the removal of a popular source for Reddit posts.
