On Wednesday, popular Reddit pages have gone private, in protest against censorship on the site. Subreddits ranging from r/Music to r/Conservative, have now become private communities due to the company censoring the mere mention of one of its employees, following the removal of an article mentioning former U.K. political figure Aimee Knight (Challenor) from the r/UKPolitics subreddit.
Reportedly, over 200 subreddits have flipped the switch to private as a result of Reddit’s censorship, as communities with millions of followers have closed their doors.
When users attempt to visit one of the now private subreddits, they will instead be redirected to a message from user u/Blank-Cheque outlining the reasons for the protest.
The link leads to the following message:
If you’ve been linked to this page, you likely tried to view a subreddit that’s been made private. You may be asking yourself “Why can’t I look at teh memes and teh cat gifs??” I’ll tell you why, young redditor:
It’s because one of reddit’s new employees is a close associate of child rapists & pedophiles, and the mods of the subreddit you’re attempting to view think that’s bad. They also think it’s bad for reddit to be censoring any mention of this across the site, including banning people just for saying the name of said admin in a completely unrelated context.
While the message claims that Knight supports child abuse, the former UK Green Party and Liberal Democrat party member has never been formally charged with any criminal offenses.
Knight (Challenor) is a British transgender activist and former spokesperson and electoral candidate for the Green Party. In 2017, she stood for election in Coventry South, receiving 1.3% of the votes.
In 2018, Knight’s (Challenor) father, who had been serving as her election agent, was convicted and jailed for raping and torturing a 10-year-old girl. Knight’s recruitment of her father, despite her knowledge of the charges for 22 sexual offenses, led to an investigation and Knight’s (Challenor) suspension from the Green Party.
She later resigned and joined the Liberal Democrats, but was suspended in 2019 over pedophilic tweets reportedly posted by her partner. Knight (Challenor) resigned from Stonewall UK at around the same time, leaving the United Kingdom for the United States.
With the e-protest taking place, one subreddit group, r/conservative, has organized a fundraiser for 501(c)3 – Prevent Child Abuse.
“We are using this time for something good and to give back to the community at large,” said a spokesperson for r/conservative, “Prevent Child Abuse America is a leading champion for all children across the United States.”
Prevent Child Abuse America is the nation’s oldest and largest organization committed to preventing child abuse and neglect before it happens. We promote programs and resources informed by science that enable kids, families, and entire communities to thrive—today, tomorrow, and for generations to come.
Update: In just over six hours, the r/conservative fundraiser, under ‘Child Lives Matter’ has raised over $10,000 and is still going.
To donate you can click here and be redirected to the fundraising page.
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