Moderators at more than 100 Reddit communitiesbanned linksto ex after Elon Musk ’s notorious Nazi - stylus salutes back in January , a rather understandable response to seeing public presentation of trigger-happy fascist political theory . The billionaire oligarch very publicly complained about Reddit in the center of the contestation , but we now learn that Musk was n’t just whining on X. The Tesla CEO was also privately pressure the CEO of Reddit to help him out by patently silencing critics of the Trump government , fit in to a new report from The Verge .
Musk was exchanging text messages with Reddit CEO Steve Huffman before the program censor r / WhitePeopleofTwitter for 72 hours , concord to TheVergewhich cites “ people familiar with the issue . ” The subreddit was seemingly banish over violent threat against penis of DOGE , the entity that ’s currently pull down the U.S. government . tidings of DOGE’stheft of sore personal informationled to an yell on r / WhitePeopleofTwitter , some of which included crimson voice communication . But the total subreddit was banned rather than being moderated .
The accurate news exchanged between Musk and Huffman have n’t been revealed , but The Verge reports that moderators from several subreddits learned of communication between the two men and called Musk a “ gargantuan baby . ” Musk has a farseeing history of banning links out to area hedoesn’t like , but when it ’s done to him he really drop a burst .
U.S. oligarch Elon Musk during a cabinet meeting at the White House on 11 February 2025 in Washington, DC.© Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
One Reddit moderator in the word about communication between Musk and Huffman wrote , “ I do n’t have any trouble with removing rule - breaking subject ( and taking the respective admin military action on said write up ) , but I determine it a snatch baffling that he ’s able-bodied to maintain influence on both public and individual institutions , ” according to The Verge .
X did not react to questions netmail Thursday but a representative for Reddit direct a general statement about responding to “ insurance usurpation ” without directly addressing the key question of whether Musk and Huffman were pass at the time .
“ We take any report of Reddit insurance infringement earnestly , whether on Reddit directly or through other public or individual mean , ” the instruction reads . “ We will evaluate content report to us and action if violating . ”
Elon Musk appears to give one of two Nazi salutes on Jan. 20, 2025. © Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
The Reddit communities participating in the ban on X links included a wide assortment of typically apolitical subreddits , including everything from r / NFL to r / Nintendo . The moderator at the subreddit r / Military explained the cause for the link banvery succinctly , with “ Fuck that guy . ” The kind of answer you ’d wait when someone appears to make a Nazi salutation . Musk did n’t immediately deny he had made two Nazi salute at an consequence for President Donald Trump ’s inaugural on Jan. 20 , instead choose to double down with jokes about Nazis .
“ Do n’t say Hess to Nazi accusations ! Some citizenry will Goebbels anything down ! ” Musk wrote onJan . 23 . “ Stop Gőring your opposition ! His pronouns would ’ve been He / Himmler ! calculate you did nazi that coming . ”
A Tesla employee who kick about the jokes was reportedly fired , according to theNew York Times . Musk only explicitly denied he was doing a Nazi salute much subsequently during an interview with right - extension conspiracy theoriser Joe Rogan . But most people seem to have understood what Musk was doing at the sentence . Even literal Nazis on X observe Musk ’s salutes , which were replicated by several MAGA - favorable figures in the week after Musk ’s gesture .
Calvin Robinson , a priest in Michigan , made the saluteat a “ pro - life ” event about a hebdomad later , actorEduardo Verásteguimade the salute at CPAC , and far - right podcaster and former adviser to President Trump , Steve Bannon , made the salute at CPAC . PodcasterAndrew Tate , who was lately reserve to come to the U.S. despite facing sex trafficking bearing in Romania , also did the salutepublicly .
The U.S. is rapidly descend into the variety of fascism most Americans have only read about in history record book . But American exceptionalism has left many people with the impression that such a affair ca n’t really happen here . Meanwhile , outside student are getting abducted by secret policeoff the streetsand cast into ICE detention facilitiesthousands of miles off . television of Turkish PhD studentRumeysa Ozturk at Tufts University live viral this workweek for on the dot that .
Elon Musk has enormous sway in the U.S. , as not just the richest someone in the world but as an oligarch who ’s been given devoid rein to regulate the federal governing however he like . But as Musk sets out to destroy American political science , it can sometimes be easy to block how much sway he has in the humans of technical school , include with companies he does n’t even own . Musk clearly has the CEO of Reddit on speed - telephone dial . And his influence is only going to grow as he accumulates more force with Trump ’s gang of hoodlum .
Donald TrumpElon MuskRedditSteve Bannon
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