Reddit Quarantines r/GenZedong Over Ukraine War Disinformation
March 2022
On 23 March 2022 Reddit quarantined r/GenZedong, a pro-CCP 'tankie' community of over 57,000 members, for hosting a high volume of disinformation about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
What happened
On 23 March 2022, Reddit quarantined r/GenZedong, a self-described Marxist-Leninist community with more than 57,000 members. Reddit administrators said the community contained 'a high volume of information not supported by credible sources'; a quarantine applies a content warning and removes a community from recommendations and search.
The action came amid the early weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A post on r/AgainstHateSubreddits alleged that r/GenZedong subscribers were spreading misinformation about the war and downplaying civilian casualties. The community had also long been associated with skepticism or denial of the persecution of Uyghurs in China.
r/GenZedong was one of several communities Reddit acted against in this period, including the much larger r/Russia, which was quarantined on 1 March 2022 for spreading disinformation about the invasion. Together the actions reflected Reddit's attempt to curb pro-Kremlin and state-aligned narratives during an acute information-warfare moment.
The quarantine fed an ongoing debate about so-called 'tankie' and CCP-aligned communities on Reddit, with critics arguing the platform tolerated coordinated state-friendly messaging for too long and supporters arguing the action was ideologically motivated.
Impact
The quarantine reduced the reach of a prominent pro-CCP, pro-Kremlin community during the early Ukraine war and became a reference point in debates over how Reddit handles state-aligned 'tankie' communities and wartime disinformation.