Going Dark: Social Factors in Collective Action Against Platform Operators in the Reddit Blackout

A mixed-methods study of the July 2015 'AMAgeddon' blackout, in which moderators of 2,278 subreddits went dark to pressure Reddit after the firing of Victoria Taylor. Combining content analysis, interviews, and data on 52,735 subreddits, it identifies the grievances and moderator-platform relations that drive mass collective action against a platform by its own volunteer labor force.