In early May, we noticed some changes to our sub. Overnight, weekly visits to our sub went from 8M to 2M. The ability to award posts and comments was disabled. Our visibility in community topics and categories like ‘Celebrities’ and ‘News’ vanished. We have been a community on Reddit for years with no issues so we figured it was a glitch and the issue would clear up on its own. It didn’t.
On May 13th, a member of our mod team reached out to Reddit admin to inquire how we fix the issue. They responded on May 15th saying, “It looks like in this case your community's content might be considered sensitive, thus the topic tab may not be visible.”
We continued to follow up.
On May 23rd, we finally received a response saying, “Subreddit rankings, awards, and achievements are tied to the types of content featured in a community. If the posts and comments in a community are considered sensitive, these features may be disabled. In this case these cannot be enabled.”
Again, we followed up to ask what exactly it was that made them consider our content to be ‘sensitive content’. Our posts are no different than other celebrity or even news subs. It quickly became clear to us we were being given the runaround. Admin wouldn’t even tell us for sure our community’s content was “sensitive”, just that it might be, nor would admin inform us why our sub’s content was potentially being considered sensitive. We asked if it was due to our celebrity, pro-Palestine, and/or anti-Trump content. We didn’t receive a response even after multiple follow ups.
On May 27th, a different mod reached out to admin asking for clarity on why it appeared our sub’s content was labeled "sensitive" and how we fix the issue.
An automated bot responded to us informing us that, “A subreddit may be designated as 'sensitive content' and face reduced visibility or loss of features if it is found to be in violation of Reddit's sitewide rules. This can include repeated violations or the presence of content that is not suitable for a general audience. In such cases, Reddit may apply restrictions such as adding NSFW tags, quarantining the community, or other enforcement actions to limit exposure and protect users. When enforcement action is taken against a subreddit, moderators are notified of the reason for the action. This notification includes instructions on how to appeal the decision. Moderators can submit an appeal within six months of receiving the notification. Appeals are reviewed in a timely and non-discriminatory manner, and if it is determined that the initial assessment was incorrect, the enforcement action may be reversed. To resolve the designation, moderators should carefully review the notification, follow the provided appeal instructions, and ensure that the community complies with Reddit's rules moving forward. This process is designed to be transparent and to encourage positive contributions to the platform.”
This confused our team as we were never notified of any enforcement action against our subreddit nor were we given any opportunity to appeal. So again we followed-up. Multiple times. We continued to get the runaround. When we asked about it admin would send us vague responses and questions back as if they had no clue what we could possibly be referring to.
The last communication with admin we had was on June 3rd. We were told, “We have already shared all the information we can provide at this time. There is no notice of enforcement because no enforcement action has been taken. Your subreddit content may be considered sensitive, which can result in the subreddit topic not being visible and could affect how easily people come across the community. However, users can still find the community, join it, and interact with its content. This is part of the platform's normal ecosystem behavior. If there is a significant change in the nature of the posts or comments within the community in the future, you are welcome to reach out to us. We can then review the subreddit again and assess whether the current topic classification remains accurate. For now, this is all the information we can share. We hope this helps!”
This confused our team even more and again we followed up. How are we supposed to know if there is a change in the nature of our posts if we are not being told by Reddit why they “might” be sensitive in the first place? We received no response to this question nor to new follow up queries sent by another mod on July 1st and July 13th.
After months of questions with vague or no responses, we still have not been told by Reddit why our content MAY be considered sensitive nor have we been informed why our content is considered so sensitive it has to be essentially hidden. Just that it’s how Reddit’s “normal ecosystem” works. A platform where racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia and sexism run rampant. Our mod team has faced harassment including slurs, death threats, rape threats and threats of doxxing for allowing pro-Palestine posts, anti-Trump posts, pro-Amber Heard posts as well as posts calling out racism, transphobia and other forms bigotry. But it seems that’s just part of Reddit’s normal ecosystem.
The truth is we know why our content “might” have been designated “sensitive”. Our mod team is made up exclusively of BIPOC and/or members of the LGBTQIA+ community; we are not unfamiliar with these patterns. Marginalized people having a voice or any sort of platform is the issue. Speaking out against fascism and up for those in marginalized communities is the issue. Calling out Trump and Israel is the issue.
We do not plan on making any changes to the kind of content we allow and we will continue to try to create a safe space for our members. In the meantime, finding our content might be more difficult, but now you know why.
