Elon Musk urged Reddit's CEO to remove posts he didn’t like, leaving moderators furious
The growing reach of Musk's influence. From AI in government to censoring criticism online.
Elon Musk reportedly tried to pressure Reddit CEO Steve Huffman into silencing criticism against him and Donald Trump, and Reddit moderators are not happy about it. This isn’t the first time Musk has taken issue with content moderation – his strong opposition was a major reason behind his Twitter acquisition. Now, it seems he’s trying to sway moderation policies on platforms he doesn’t even own.
AI, bans, and Musk's power: inside the DOGE Reddit drama
According to The Washington Post, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is using AI tools to process sensitive data from the Department of Education in an effort to cut costs. This has raised alarms about data security and whether AI can be trusted with that kind of information. On top of that, around 100 staffers – mostly those involved in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work – have been put on leave following an executive order from Trump.
When the news came out, r/WhitePeopleTwitter blew up with outrage, and some users crossed the line with violent comments. Instead of just moderating those, Reddit decided to ban the entire subreddit for 72 hours. Meanwhile, as reported by The Verge, Musk was texting Reddit CEO Steve Huffman just before the ban was slapped on r/WhitePeopleTwitter.
Reddit had already said it was cracking down on "violent content," but it wasn’t known until now that Musk personally filed a complaint with the CEO. Musk has also called it "insane" that some subreddits banned posting links to X. It’s unclear if that complaint came up in his messages with Steve Huffman.
Now, after the whole thing blew up, a lot of Reddit users are saying the same thing in response to a post on r/collapse:
The party of “free speech” only want free speech when it benefits them and doesn’t question their authority or intelligence.
Yeah I just got a 3 day ban not for advocating or endorsing violence but for writing a speculative claim that the Trump administration is doing violence to detainees.
Haha! We knew this a month ago when people were getting banned left and right.
While some comments in the thread attacking DOGE employees might’ve been seen as threatening and taken down anyway, it’s worrying that Musk can privately push CEOs of other companies to influence content decisions.
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