This week, Reddit removed a number of popular subreddits related to guns and ammunition as part of an update to the company’s content policies, which now prohibit transactions involving certain goods and services.
This comes the wake of YouTube’s content policy changes that will likely take out a number of gun channels. The move has even sent many content creators to different platforms—InRangeTV made a statement by creating a channel and uploading several public videos to PornHub.
"As of March 21, 2018, we have made a new addition to our content policyforbidding transactions for certain classes of goods and services," Reddit said in a statement. "Moving forward, we are prohibiting transactions that are either illicit or strictly controlled. Communities focused on such transactions and users who attempt to conduct them will be banned from the site."
This story from cnet.com says the policy effected subreddits that discussed legal transactions of firearms and ammunition, while lumping them in with forums that discussed illegal matters like explosives, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, stolen goods, personal information, paid services that amount to prostitution, and falsified documents.
"It's ridiculous that you're lumping gundeals in with other subs that facilitated illegal activities," one user wrote. "Gundeals at no time ever violated or attempted to skirt any laws; everything was 100% in compliance with federal and local laws."
When Reddit launched in 2005, it was known as an anything-goes discussion platform with a range of topics as wide as the spectrum of human interests. As the site has grown in popularity, its administrators have begun to crack down on what they will and won’t allow users to talk about on Reddit.
One of the most popular forums nixed by Reddit’s new policy was r/gundeals, a forum that allowed people to set up legal transactions for firearms, ammunition, and used gear—but it was mostly used to refer people to online stores or eBay listings to find what they’re looking for.
Users took to the remaining gun-related forums to voice their disapproval with Reddit’s decision and to mourn the loss of r/gundeals:
