Reddit Bans the White-Nationalist Subreddit Cluster (r/European, r/WhiteRights and Others)
2017–2018
Across 2017–2018 Reddit quarantined and banned a cluster of white-nationalist subreddits — quarantining r/European in 2016 and banning it March 12, 2018, and removing r/EuropeanNationalism and similar subs in the October 25, 2017 violence-policy purge.
What happened
Reddit hosted a network of white-nationalist communities for years before acting against them in waves. r/European, founded in 2013 as a breakaway after r/europe began enforcing hate-speech rules, became a far-right news hub hosting antisemitic, Islamophobic, and racist content. Reddit quarantined it in 2016 — limiting visibility and ad revenue and requiring opt-in — after a user bragged about assaulting a Muslim refugee, then permanently banned it on March 12, 2018 for violating its content policies.
The broader cluster fell in Reddit's October 25, 2017 enforcement action, which followed an update to its sitewide violence policy that for the first time expressly prohibited 'content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people.' Reddit admins acknowledged the prior rule 'was too vague.' Contemporaneous reporting listed removed subreddits including r/Nazi, r/Nationalsocialism, r/far_right, r/europeannationalism, and r/DylannRoofInnocent (a sub dedicated to defending the Charleston church shooter).
Critics across outlets framed the action as overdue and incomplete: Reddit had tolerated open white-nationalist organizing for years and acted only after sustained public pressure, banning the most flagrant subs while leaving adjacent communities online at the time; remaining white-nationalist subs were swept up in later sitewide actions including the June 2020 mass purge.
Impact
Dismantled much of Reddit's openly white-nationalist subreddit ecosystem in stages and forced the platform to write a clearer incitement standard, while exposing years of permissiveness and uneven enforcement.