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Reddit experiments with livesteaming
Over the weekend, rumors and speculation began circulating on Reddit. Users were wondering what cryptic messages on r/pan, a new Reddit community, could mean. Today, Reddit pulled back the curtain. It announced Reddit Public Access Network (r/pan), a weeklong experiment, in which users can post livestream videos. The lessons Reddit learns from this experiment will likely help it develop a permanent livestreaming option in the near future.
Reddit subreddits can now create their own community rewards
After several months of testing, Reddit announced today that it is rolling out a new feature called Community Awards for all eligible subreddits. The feature will allow moderators of communities on the site to create their own Reddit Gold-style medals that can be awarded to users and displayed next to their username on the subreddit.
This AI-powered subreddit has been simulating the real thing for years
Can the human discourse on social media in 2019 be properly captured by a group of well-programmed bots? Of course it can. r/subredditsimulator is a subreddit -- three years in the making -- that consists solely of neural network bots. It works by generating random submissions and comments based on posts from other popular subreddits. The bots are each assigned to a specific subreddit, and the selection ranges from Reddit's darkest (r/theredpill) to fluffiest corners (r/cats, r/adviceanimals).
‘Avengers: Endgame’ footage leaks on Reddit, YouTube and Twitter
Despite Disney's efforts to keep as much of Avengers: Endgame under wraps as possible before the latest Marvel blockbuster hits theaters next week, several minutes of blurry Avengers: Endgame footage have leaked. The footage reveals some significant plot details, and GIFs, screenshots and descriptions (none of which we're sharing here) are spreading across the likes of Twitter and Reddit.
Reddit's 'Change My View' community becomes a dedicated site
Reddit is known for a handful of communities that have taken on a life of their own, and that includes communities taking their efforts off Reddit entirely. The creator of the popular r/changemyview subreddit, Kal Turnbull, has launched a Change My View site that expands his concept of civil discourse beyond what Reddit could offer. It uses the basic forum structure and rules, but relies on paid moderators, a log of moderation actions, and the Perspective comment ranking system from Alphabet's tech incubator Jigsaw (which also provided a degree of funding) to automatically scrub some abusive behavior.
Reddit bans gore-, death-focused channels following NZ mosque attack
Following other social networks, Reddit has also faced people trying to reshare video of a terrorist attack on a mosque in New Zealand. Now two notorious subreddits, r/watchpeopledie and r/Gore have been banned for hosting links to it. Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell shared a picture of a moderator saying "The video stays up until someone censors us." In 2015 Reddit chose to ban instead of quarantine a number of racist groups, and researchers found the move made its community less toxic overall. On the banned pages, Reddit posted a note saying their removal is because of violating its policy against content glorifying or encouraging violence, although it doesn't explain how they were left up so long in the first place.
‘Anthem’ bug makes starter rifle the game’s most powerful weapon
You've gotta pay your dues in shooter game Anthem. Like Destiny 2 and Warframe, you get ahead with tireless grinding, repeatedly working through the same missions to get your hands on better guns and better loot. So a recently-discovered bug is threatening the entire gameplay. As player YeetLordSurpreme revealed yesterday, the game's level 1 rifle is actually the strongest weapon in the entire Anthem universe -- and developer BioWare has confirmed the whoopsie.
Reddit is testing a real-money tipping system
Reddit is testing a new feature that allows users to provide a monetary tip to others. For the time being, the tipping feature is active in a single subreddit and only one user on the entire site can actually receive a tip. For the time being, only subscribers to the subreddit r/shittymorph can give a tip, and only Reddit user shittymorph -- best known for creating the the Hell in a Cell meme -- can cash in.
Governments are requesting more and more data from Reddit
Every year, Reddit receives subpoenas, search warrants and court orders from governments, law enforcement and private parties around the world. Often they want information on users -- perhaps in an investigation or public emergency -- or for Reddit to take down content. In 2018, Reddit received more than twice as many government requests for user data compared to 2017 -- 752 compared to 310 the previous year -- the site said in its latest transparency report. The vast majority of requests were to provide information on users, and the site complied with 77 percent of them, all of which came from the US. When the requests were subpoenas or search warrants, Reddit complied over 90 percent of the time.
Deadmau5 is no longer on Twitch
EDM artist Deadmau5 (aka Joel Zimmerman) has deleted his Twitch account after the service apparently suspended his channel over a homophobic slur. When he was streaming PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds this week, he reportedly called out another player with the insult when he suspected them of watching his stream to find his character's location in the battle royale game.
Russian spam accounts are still a big problem for Reddit
This article was produced in partnership with Point, a YouTube channel for investigative journalism. Last September, a Reddit user called DivestTrump uploaded a detailed report to Reddit about suspicious political posts that targeted the site's main pro-Trump discussion forum. The content chiefly originated from two websites, brutalist.press and usareally.com, which have both been linked to Russia's Internet Research Agency and individuals under investigation by Robert Mueller's FBI probe. But it turns out that's just the tip of the iceberg; tens of millions of reddit users could have been influenced. In a joint investigation, Point and Engadget have learned that at least three additional domains — alt-right.com, veteranstoday.com and southfront.org — are also targeting r/The_Donald and other conservative subreddits in similar ways.
Patreon’s 3 million supporters are good news for independent creators
Patreon has had one clear goal since it launched in 2013: to help artists, influencers and internet creators make money by letting them offer membership services directly to their fans. And that effort seems to be paying off. Today, Patreon announced there are now over three million people supporting creators on its site, of which there are more than 100,000 to date. What's also notable is that the company was able to accomplish this milestone in a rapid manner, going from two to three million supporters (aka patrons) worldwide in just one year.
Ryan Reynolds is turning a Reddit short story into a horror movie
A novella which was originally posted on Reddit is making its way to the big screen with the help of Ryan Reynolds. The Deadpool star is set to produce the adaptation of The Patient Who Nearly Drove Me Out of Medicine. The novella has its roots in a popular series of posts writer Jasper DeWitt published on the r/nosleep subreddit starting two years ago.
Reddit and Patreon team up to help creators foster community
Reddit and Patreon are teaming up to help creators grow their communities and give their fans more ways to support them. Patreon creators will be able to connect their page to their subreddits. Once the two are integrated, creators can include Patreon widgets on their subreddits to encourage fans to venture to that site, presumably in the hope that will lead more people to support their work with subscriptions.
Why PayPal’s crackdown on ASMR creators should worry you
In June, China banned and excised videos of sound effects while claiming to cleanse its internet of pornography. YouTube had already demonetized the genre in a sex panic; now PayPal is banning people for life and holding individuals' funds, ignorant of the facts and marching lockstep to the tune of 8chan trolls enacting a campaign to punish "whores." The most bitter punchline in all this? A tiny percentage of the entire video genre is even remotely sexual, and those suffering — female creators — aren't even making sex content.
Reddit bans communities promoting QAnon conspiracy theory
Reddit's tougher policies just led to more community bans, albeit not for typical reasons. The site has confirmed to Slate that it shut down subreddits associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory, including GreatAwakening, QProofs and thestorm, among others. While the company didn't say exactly what had prompted the bans, it noted that its rules bar activity that "incites violence, disseminates personal information, or harasses." It had banned a related board in March, but it hadn't conducted such a sweeping response until now.
Unpaid and abused: Moderators speak out against Reddit
This article was produced in partnership with Point, a YouTube channel for investigative journalism. It discusses topics that you may find upsetting and contains strong language and racial slurs. Somewhere out there, a man wants to rape Emily. She knows this because he was painfully clear in typing out his threat. In fact, he's just one of a group of people who wish her harm. For the past four years, Emily has volunteered to moderate the content on several sizable subreddits -- large online discussion forums -- including r/news, with 16.3 million subscribers, and r/london, with 114,000 subscribers. But Reddit users don't like to be moderated.
Reddit moderators spotted Iranian fake news campaign months ago
Earlier this week, Facebook, Twitter and Google announced they had pulled a number of accounts linked to a misinformation campaign based out of Iran. Facebook took down 652 pages believed to be connected to the campaign while Twitter suspended 284 accounts. Google also removed a number of YouTube channels, Google+ accounts and Blogger blogs. But NBC News reports today that a handful of Reddit moderators spotted this misinformation effort some time ago and that their reports to the website were ignored.
Anonymous deals with its QAnon branding problem
When you're a notorious hacking entity like Anonymous, and a pro-Trump conspiracy cult (QAnon) steals your branding (while claiming you're the impostor), the obvious thing to do is declare cyberwar. That's exactly what Anonymous did this past week in a press announcement, followed by a social media and press offensive. So far Anonymous has managed to take over QAnon's hashtags (while adding #OpQAnon and others) and dox a couple hundred members of Trump's pedophilia-obsessed, "deep state" doomsday cult. QAnon's mouthpieces responded exactly as we'd expect, with taunts and tweets saying: "These people are STUPID!! They have no brains and no skills. Typical 'empty threat' terrorists! But DO NOT click their links!! Virus city baby!!"
Reddit hacker snagged email addresses and old passwords
Earlier this month, a hacker accessed a few of Reddit's systems, grabbing some current email addresses and a database backup from 2007 that contained account passwords. The company assured its users that the attacker did not gain write access to any systems, and was not able to alter any information. The company has since locked down their production systems and API keys while enhancing its monitoring system and logs.
