Reddit bans fat people hate forum in crackdown on harrassment

Reddit - the link sharing website which calls itself “the front page of the internet” - has banned five forums in a harrassment crackdown. Two of the five so-called subreddits banned were forums for criticising and mocking fat people - one was called Fat People Hate and the other was named Ham Planet Hatred. The other forums banned focused on racial abuse, gaming topics and prejudice against transgender people. The Fat People Hate subreddit had 150,000 subscribers and featured pictures of fat people with derogatory titles and comments posted about them.

We are a Pro-Health sub! No ifs, buts, or coconuts. With that being said, if you’re a delusional lardmuffin this sub may be a bit offensive.

Ham Planet Hatred forum message

Former chief executive Yishan Wong once said: “We will not ban questionable subreddits. You choose what to post. You choose what to read." But his replacement Ellen Pao has set about cleaning up the site, in a move which some believe is aimed at making the service more palatable to advertisers. A Reddit group administrator wrote on the site: "Our goal is to enable as many people as possible to have authentic conversations and share ideas and content on an open platform.”

We want as little involvement as possible in managing these interactions but will be involved when needed to protect privacy and free expression, and to prevent harassment.

Reddit group administrator

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