Yesterday, over a thousand communities on Reddit made posts to their subreddits, calling for Reddit to take action against harmful misinformation on their site. These posts collectively gathered hundreds of thousands of upvotes, with users showing their support in the comments, and several large media outlets picking it up. Subsequently the admins posted a response to /r/Announcements, in which they stated that this misinformation would be allowed on their site, and that they will continue to action communities that violate their sitewide rules, including encouraging fake vaccine cards & "encouraging harm". They finished the announcement with a thinly veiled threat of punishing moderators who have participated in this protest, if it continues. The post was immediately locked, making it impossible to directly respond to.

This statement from the admins is hypocritical, dishonest, and misrepresentative of the situation on their site. They are portraying the misinformation as simply discussion that criticises the majority opinion, when it is far more than that: It is discussion that actively advises against government guidelines, opting to follow disproven studies and anecdotal evidence. As stated in our original letter, this type of misinformation is dangerous. The admins are pretending like it is not. As redditors, we should come together against this harmful propaganda.

Reddit's CEO /u/spez is claiming that the admins will take action on communities that "encourage harm", while allowing subreddits that advocate not taking an FDA-approved vaccine in favor of taking unapproved drugs, the effects of which have not been studied. Most notably is Ivermectin, a drug used to treat parasites and that the FDA has explicitly advised against using for Covid is often recommended by antivaxx subreddits, most notably r/Ivermectin. This type of misinformation is actively endangering people. The admins are simply sticking their head in the sand, and refusing to take any responsibility for the damage that their inaction is causing.

Until Reddit takes action, we will continue to speak out against subreddits which exist solely to spread medical disinformation.

Here's how you can help: When you see antivaxx comments or submissions report them to the admins using this link:

https://www.reddit.com/report?reason=this-is-misinformation