Something big is happening, as Reddit seems to have purged literally every NSFW sub they know. Reason is always "unmoderated" despite some of the banned subreddits being fully moderated.
Edit: seems to have been a bug in automation (thanks @[email protected]):
It's not only porn. Today i google-image searched a skin condition. Most results were reddit links, but i wasn't able to open any of them without their app as the subreddits were apparently 18+!
I wasn't able to view any of the information as i refuse to install the app. Google should deprioritize the results that can't be viewed in the browser.
In the top right of your internet browser, there should be a menu button. If you hit that, there should be a "Desktop Site" button. If you check that, the app prompt goes away. It's annoying that it's required, but at least you won't be locked out
It's only a matter of time. They don't display any ads on nsfw subreddits currently, so management likely sees these subreddits as nothing but a cost, especially because they tend to be heavily image/gif based. what they are unsure about, which is why they haven't been purged yet, is likely how much traffic to non-nsfw subreddits nsfw subreddits drive. I think we are likely to see purges of them when/if ad money dips or plateaus and they turn their eye to minimizing operating costs.
It did happen before the IPO. It's been happening for several years. They have not been doing mass bans all at once. They've been surreptitiously taking down subreddits over the years. Mostly smaller ones that woujldn't draw much attetnion. Looks like they went for the bigger targets now.
This isn't a sudden change to ideologically align with the current US administration either. They have been at this for a long time.
Are they going to revert the changes in a few weeks when Musk loses interest? Seems like a huge loss of website traffic for some Elon virtue signaling.