The Great Ban: Efficacy and Unintended Consequences of a Massive Deplatforming Operation on Reddit
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2024
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| _version_ | 1866915141740658688 |
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| author | Cima, Lorenzo Trujillo, Amaury Avvenuti, Marco Cresci, Stefano |
| author_facet | Cima, Lorenzo Trujillo, Amaury Avvenuti, Marco Cresci, Stefano |
| contents | In the current landscape of online abuses and harms, effective content moderation is necessary to cultivate safe and inclusive online spaces. Yet, the effectiveness of many moderation interventions is still unclear. Here, we assess the effectiveness of The Great Ban, a massive deplatforming operation that affected nearly 2,000 communities on Reddit. By analyzing 16M comments posted by 17K users during 14 months, we provide nuanced results on the effects, both desired and otherwise, of the ban. Among our main findings is that 15.6% of the affected users left Reddit and that those who remained reduced their toxicity by 6.6% on average. The ban also caused 5% users to increase their toxicity by more than 70% of their pre-ban level. Overall, our multifaceted results provide new insights into the efficacy of deplatforming. As such, our findings can inform the development of future moderation interventions and the policing of online platforms. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_11254 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The Great Ban: Efficacy and Unintended Consequences of a Massive Deplatforming Operation on Reddit Cima, Lorenzo Trujillo, Amaury Avvenuti, Marco Cresci, Stefano Social and Information Networks Computers and Society In the current landscape of online abuses and harms, effective content moderation is necessary to cultivate safe and inclusive online spaces. Yet, the effectiveness of many moderation interventions is still unclear. Here, we assess the effectiveness of The Great Ban, a massive deplatforming operation that affected nearly 2,000 communities on Reddit. By analyzing 16M comments posted by 17K users during 14 months, we provide nuanced results on the effects, both desired and otherwise, of the ban. Among our main findings is that 15.6% of the affected users left Reddit and that those who remained reduced their toxicity by 6.6% on average. The ban also caused 5% users to increase their toxicity by more than 70% of their pre-ban level. Overall, our multifaceted results provide new insights into the efficacy of deplatforming. As such, our findings can inform the development of future moderation interventions and the policing of online platforms. |
| title | The Great Ban: Efficacy and Unintended Consequences of a Massive Deplatforming Operation on Reddit |
| topic | Social and Information Networks Computers and Society |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.11254 |