Reddit Bans QAnon Subreddits for Inciting ‘Violence’

Reddit banned the largest QAnon subreddit, /r/GreatAwakening, on Wednesday for the repeatedly violating the website's content policy. “We are very clear in our site terms of service that posting content that incites violence, disseminates personal information, or harasses will get users and communities banned from Reddit,” a Reddit spokesperson told NBC News. Before it was shut down, the subreddit's moderators were reportedly urging users to cease making “violent threats” within the community in recent weeks—though it is unclear if any particular post caused Reddit to shut the community down. The subreddit reportedly had 71,000 subscribers posting over 10,000 comments daily. The back-up subreddit, /r/the_greatawakening, and 17 other different QAnon groups were also banned from the site—like r/BiblicalQ and r/Quincels. The QAnon community believes that President Donald Trump is waging a war with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to take down a “global pedophile ring led by Hollywood celebrities and the Democratic Party, most notably Hillary Clinton.” Earlier this month, threats to kill Clinton reportedly gained popularity in the subreddit due to a theory that the former presidential candidate was “causing military planes to fall out of the sky.”