Reddit is shutting down Nazi forums on the site after announcing new rules designed to crack down on content that incites violence.

The banned forums, called subreddits, included r/Nazi and r/NationalSocialism. Other subreddits that focused on racist topics and far-right politics were also shut down on Wednesday. Here is a list.

Reddit said its old policy on violent content was vague and creating confusion over what was permissible, a Reddit administrator wrote on the site.

"Going forward, we will take action against any content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people," the statement added.

The policy will be applied to all content on Reddit, including subreddit names, memes, and usernames. Reddit will also crack down on content that glorifies or encourages the abuse of animals.

"We understand that enforcing this policy may often require subjective judgment," the Reddit administrator added.

The policy change marks Reddit's latest attempt to rein in controversial content on the platform while trying to permit freedom of speech. Earlier this year, it banned two alt-right subreddits for violating its terms of service. Prior to that, it went after "toxic users" for making inappropriate comments.

The new rules state that Reddit posts containing violent content, but are made for educational, newsworthy, artistic or comedic purposes are still allowed. But users should provide clear reasons why the posts were made.

"If your content is borderline, please use a NSFW (Not Safe For Work) tag," the rules state. "Even mild violence can be difficult for someone to explain to others if they open it unexpectedly."

The Reddit administrator, landoflobsters, who announced the rule change, said on the site that "context" will be key in deciding which posts get taken down in the future.

For instance, content relating to boxing and mixed martial arts will be allowed. Debate about the death penalty won't be affected either.

"Not all combat videos are newsworthy," the administrator said in another posting. "Some are and some are historical in nature. We evaluate everything on a case by case basis."