For The Win
Welcome to FTW Explains: A guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You may have heard about Reddit banning links from other social media sites and wondering what is going on. That’s OK because we’re here to help.
If you haven’t been on Reddit in a few days and popped over to your favorite sub to see what’s going on, you may have noticed a post at the top of the page declaring a ban on links from Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Many other subreddits are currently voting on the issue.
There are a couple reasons why this is happening and we’re going to try and unpack it all.
No, Reddit itself is not banning links from Twitter or Meta products.
Individual communities hosted on Reddit — called subreddits — are either collectively deciding to ban the links, or are asking each subreddit’s moderators to declare a ban.
In the sports world, the two big ones are r/NBA and r/NFL. Each community boasts at least 10 million subscribers (though many more sports fans can lurk without subscribing). Both r/NBA and r/NFL are ranked among the top one percent of subreddits based on size.
It’s also important to note these pages are not run by the leagues themselves. They are independent forums where fans can gather to discuss their favorite teams and sports. The NFL and NBA have no say here.
That would seem like the obvious answer, right? Well, it is and it isn’t.
Yes, backlash to Elon Musk has played a role in these bans after he made a controversial gesture resembling a Nazi salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration. But there is a technical issue at the root of why so many subs are banning Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
Simply put: Twitter and Meta product links make for a horrible user experience on Reddit because they force you to log in to view and browse content. That pretty much goes against everything Reddit communities stand for when it comes to openly sharing content from around the web.
While some communities were already discussing a ban because of the technical problems, the movement was joined by those who want to decrease traffic to Twitter following Musk’s recent behavior. The coalition proved more than enough to push the ban through on r/NBA and r/NFL.
Moderators for the NBA subreddit, in particular, were incredibly thorough in explaining their decision to ban those links:
Effective immediately, r/nba will be banning links to Twitter/X, as well as other social media platforms that require logins for their content to be browsed, including Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
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In the end, there...
