Russia's invasion of Ukraine is one of the most discussed topics on social media in recent hours.
The Reddit platform and its 50 million daily users are no exception.
But in the hundreds of thousands of messages shared, some denote.
These are publications of Russian propaganda or disinformation about the ongoing conflict.
“
We have just deleted a fake account which shared pro-Putin messages on a loop, he insisted on the fact that Putin is cornered by NATO and invaded Ukraine in self-defense
”, explains to
Le Figaro
a moderator of “
r/France
”, the social network page dedicated to the French.
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"
We try to find the right balance between freedom of expression and respect for the rules, but we do not hesitate to remove comments that veer towards xenophobia, racism and discrimination
," he adds.
On this platform, users moderate each other within communities.
These volunteers are responsible for the control of certain pages, the direct intervention of Reddit administrators is not common.
The 800,000 members of the “r/France” page are therefore monitored by around fifteen moderators.
A laborious task: they must control each publication, the most popular resulting in hundreds or even thousands of comments.
Several deletions
For now, the platform is "
not overwhelmed
", but a quick look at forums like "
r/worldnews
" shows that a few dozen posts are taken down and others appear to be posted on a loop by bots.
A problem that the American company has in mind.
“
We are continuously monitoring outside events and extending resources and support to communities and moderators in affected areas.
We are also working closely with government stakeholders and other platforms to stay on top of any trends that may emerge
,” a Reddit spokesperson said by email.
The platform is no stranger to Russian troll invasions.
In 2018, 944 propaganda accounts were taken down by Reddit executives after an investigation by The
New York Times Magazine
.
The periodical revealed that an entire building harbored "trolls" starting unfounded rumors on several social networks.
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