Discussion site Reddit has already removed hundreds of accounts that tried to spread Russian propaganda on the site. That is what Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says in a message on the website.
“We try to identify and erase direct propaganda from suspected Russian sources,” said the CEO. “We have now found and removed a few hundred accounts.”
According to Huffman, a large proportion of the accounts found were already removed in 2015 and 2016 by the site’s administrators, because the accounts were then in violation of general rules on Reddit.
Huffman says he is still struggling with indirect propaganda, such as tweets from a Twitter account that was later linked to the Russians. “I wish this were easy to solve by, for example, banning all propaganda, but it is not that easy.”
Russia is suspected of manipulating the US presidential election in 2016 by distributing misinformation with accounts. Besides, Russia would have purchased advertising on Facebook, for example.
It is not allowed for users of Russian IP addresses to purchase advertising on Reddit. According to Huffman, there was hardly any mention of Russian advertising before or after the elections.