Reddit Users Boycott X Links After Elon Musks Gesture at Inaugural Event
Many Reddit users are boycotting the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, after Elon Musk twice made a gesture during President Trump’s inaugural celebration that drew comparisons to the Nazi salute.Mr.Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform, was speaking at a celebratory rally after Mr.
Trump’s installment as the 47th president on Monday when he grunted, placed his hand over his heart and lifted his arm with the palm facing down in a hail to the audience.Although Mr.Musk played down the criticism, speculation about the gesture’s meaning broke out online, including on Reddit, where people gather in thousands of forums known as subreddits to discuss niche interests, including hobbies, sports, celebrity gossip and geopolitics.By Tuesday, a proposal had emerged in dozens of Reddit groups across a wide spectrum of interests: Many users wanted to place a ban on linking to X posts as a way of boycotting the platform and Mr.
Musk.A moderator of a subreddit devoted to Formula 1 racing said that it would ban content from X “for a trial period.” Links from X are now also banned in r/newjersey, the moderators of that forum said in a post that was accompanied by a photo of Mr.Musk emblazoned with a red block symbol.
(Other place-centered forums had similar posts.) TwoXChromosomes, a space centered on women's perspectives, said that a bot would automatically remove X links.That announcement garnered thousands of approving votes.By Wednesday morning, organizers of groups with vast audiences focusing on hometowns, sporting teams, board games and the economy were discussing or surveying the appetite of their members for a potential boycott of X.
Users who supported one cited several reasons, chief among them to push back against Mr.Musk after his appearance at the inauguration event.
Others said they had been frustrated with Mr.Musk for some time because of his transformation of X and his views on politics and other matters.We are having ...