# Hate speech, Censorship, and Freedom of Speech: The Changing Policies of Reddit

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.09673 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09673/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 1 of its 30 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 18 Mar 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Quarantined! Examining the Effects of a Community-Wide Moderation Intervention on Reddit](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.11483/) (2020)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper examines the shift in focus on content policies and user attitudes on the social media platform Reddit. We do this by focusing on comments from general Reddit users from five posts made by admins (moderators) on updates to Reddit Content Policy. All five concern the nature of what kind of content is allowed to be posted on Reddit, and which measures will be taken against content that violates these policies. We use topic modeling to probe how the general discourse for Redditors has changed around limitations on content, and later, limitations on hate speech, or speech that incites violence against a particular group. We show that there is a clear shift in both the contents and the user attitudes that can be linked to contemporary societal upheaval as well as newly passed laws and regulations, and contribute to the wider discussion on hate speech moderation.