r/The_Donald: quarantine and ban
2016–2020
Reddit's largest pro-Trump community was quarantined in 2019 over threats of violence and banned in 2020 as part of a sweeping hate-speech policy update.
What happened
r/The_Donald grew into one of Reddit's most influential and combative political communities after 2015, repeatedly topping the site's front page through aggressive vote manipulation and drawing criticism for hosting harassment, conspiracy theories, and hateful content.
On 26 June 2019, Reddit quarantined the subreddit — restricting its visibility and warning users — after members posted threats against public officials and police connected to the Oregon Senate Republican walkouts. The community, which had around 790,000 members, was finally banned on 29 June 2020 as part of a purge of roughly 2,000 subreddits under a newly expanded policy prohibiting communities that promote hate.
Impact
The slow escalation from warnings to quarantine to ban — spanning years — became a case study in Reddit's reluctance to act against large, engaged communities even amid documented rule-breaking. Critics argued enforcement came only after sustained external pressure and a national reckoning over platform responsibility; supporters of the community argued it was selectively targeted. Either way, it reshaped how Reddit articulated and applied its hate-speech rules.