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Whether it's sports, video games, or anime, Reddit is known for hosting forum-like subreddits on all kinds of topics. But on Tuesday, many of them went out of their way to focus on a single subject: Banning links to Elon Musk’s social media platform X/Twitter.
Musk's controversial, Nazi-like salute during a Trump inauguration event has sparked waves of Reddit users to call for a boycott. “Starting today, we are banning Twitter/X content on r/formula1,” the subreddit dedicated to the motorsport announced on Wednesday.
The movement was evident on Tuesday night if you scrolled through the most popular content trending on Reddit: Subreddit after subreddit, including r/NBA, r/boardgames, and r/OnePiece featured posts from users, urging their forums to block links to X.
(Credit: Chandra Steele/PCMag)“Given Musk’s actions on Monday, it may be time to rethink how we engage with the platform (X),” wrote a user on r/DND. “Beyond Musk giving two Nazi salutes, he has repeatedly amplified harmful rhetoric and interacted with accounts promoting Nazi ideology, raising serious questions about Twitter’s role in spreading hate and extremism.”
Some users also favor the ban, citing complaints with X’s video player. Meanwhile, other subreddits have implemented a ban. “X has become increasingly hateful, toxic, and less and less moderated,” a moderator on r/pcgaming wrote. “This has, in turn, made us less comfortable with letting our subreddit link it to other people. Not to mention the distasteful things Elon Musk has done recently…”
The movement to ban links to X might have ripple effects, sparking users to flock to Twitter-like competitors such as Bluesky. The r/formula1 subreddit noted: “We urge all journalists, creators, photographers, and other F1 personalities to also make their content available on alternative platforms.” However, other users suspect a ban will be hard to maintain, given that some journalists continue to post breaking news on X.
In the meantime, Musk insists he did nothing wrong. On X, he’s been amplifying pictures and videos showing other politicians and even Taylor Swift raising their hands in the air, though photos and videos tell a different story. Musk also tweeted back at his critics, writing, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired."