advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

Reddit bans impersonation on its site, but still allows for satire

Like many online platforms of late, Reddit has been updating some elements of its policies for the new decade. The latest change sees the site address impersonation on its platform, moving to ban it with a handful of exceptions.

The move falls in line with the desire to limit the spread of misinformation, therefore the new policy update could affect things like deepfake videos that are not made for comedy, but rather to share false information.

As such the one significant exception to this policy update from Reddit is that it will still allow impersonation on its platform provided it is satirical in nature.

“Reddit does not allow content that impersonates individuals or entities in a misleading or deceptive manner. This not only includes using a Reddit account to impersonate someone, but also encompasses things such as domains that mimic others, as well as deepfakes or other manipulated content presented to mislead, or falsely attributed to an individual or entity. While we permit satire and parody, we will always take into account the context of any particular content,” reads the company’s updated policy.

How Reddit will be able to effectively screen and determine the level of satire for impersonation in each and every case remains to be seen, especially with similar large sites like YouTube also failing to always enforce policies such as this effectively.

That said in 2018 the platform explained that impersonation was the second lowest class of policy violation that year, accounting for 2.3 percent of reports. Whether that number has increased significantly over the past few months thanks to deepfakes is unclear.

Regardless this latest move shows that Reddit is taking impersonation and misinformation on its platform seriously.

Reddit tells any of its users who suspect they are being impersonated on the site to visit this link and report it.

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

advertisement