Musk and his X platform are being outlawed on Reddit and in France after Nazi gesture allegations. Credit: @IanDikhtiar, Twitter.
Billionaire CEO and owner of popular social media site ‘X’, Elon Musk, has made headlines in the worst possible way this week after appearing to give a nod to the Nazi regime in his ‘salute’ when celebrating Donald Trump’s victory. Millions of Reddit users have voted to outlaw X as a form of protest.
Many are calling it intentional, some are labelling the gesture as a signal of socially awkward, autistic behaviour, but whatever the true reasoning behind Musk’s actions on Monday, Reddit users are campaigning for his head regardless.
Users are taking to their respective communities, hundreds of different groups, or ‘subreddits’, to voice their heated opinions and vote to ban any links to Musk’s X from their site. Many have already deleted their account on the popular social media hub.
Canadian groups out in full force to ban site
The moderator for Canadian subreddit Calgary Flames fans announced that the group have “enacted a ban on twitter links, effective immediately”, with the Winnipeg Jets subreddit doing the same.
The subreddit announced to its near 80,000 users: “This decision comes in response to Elon Musk’s recent actions, which have resulted in X no longer being a safe or reliable platform for users.”
On Wednesday, a hugely followed subreddit representing fans of the Toronto Maple leafs followed suit, emphasising to its 350,000 members that “we as a subreddit, do not condone Nazism in any form.”
They continued: “This ban is an attempt to curb the patronage to a website that has become diametrically opposed to our community values.”
F1 and Liverpool also taking charge on Reddit
The Formula 1 official subreddit, which has nearly 5 million members inside, also announced that it will ban all X content from its group. This comes in addition to petitions calling for the Liverpool FC subreddit to ban the site from its community, with around 50,000 upvotes in favour from users.
The action from Musk, where he thumped his right hand over his heart, fingers spread wide, extended his right arm emphatically at an upward angle with his palm down and closed his fingers together, has led to the CEO coming out to try and defend himself desperately.
The incident, which took place at the Capital One Arena in Washington, United States, has painted Musk as not only a deeply controversial figure but a man of extremism, who seeks to initiate pure conflict among Europeans for his own benefit, and to aim to contribute to the political sphere. He has no grounds to do so, however, which regularly angers citizens and governmental leaders alike.
BBC first reported that over 100 Reddit groups had banned their X links, with claims from group moderators including “we do not need to support a racist.”
France and Le Monde back away from X after gesture drama
France had over 80 associations including human rights, environmental and press freedom groups all exiting X, though most did not specify the exact reasons.
These included popular French newspaper Le Monde, after director Jerome Fenoglio gave a statement.
“Musk has transformed it [X] into an extension of his political cause, a form of libertarianism increasingly close to the far right.”
He continued: “The intensification of Musk’s activism, the formalisation of his position within the Trump power apparatus and the increasing toxicity of the exchanges led us to come to the conclusion that the usefulness of our presence weighs less than the many suffered side-effects.”
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