Freedom of speech is one of the founding pillars of our society. As the modern public square, brought to us by tech giants such as Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit, has begun to erode, a mass of people are deeply concerned about the direction in which this movement will take us. We specifically call on the leadership of Reddit.com, the “front page of the internet,” to stand up for the very free speech which it "supposedly" advocates.

In the battle against “hate speech,” Reddit today moved to ban 2,000 subreddits from their platform. This is an act that blatantly restricts the limits of speech allowed on their forum. Upon request by thousands of Redditors, Steven Huffman (a.k.a. u/spez) denied showing the list of subreddits that were banned with the exception of two notable ones.

Even more troubling are the specific terms of the new Reddit Content Policy. In their condemnation of hate speech, they add the insidious stipulation:

• "Marginalized or vulnerable groups include, but are not limited to, groups based on their actual and perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or disability. These include victims of a major violent event and their families.
• “While the rule on hate protects such groups, it does not protect all groups or all forms of identity. For example, the rule does not protect groups of people who are in the majority or who promote such attacks of hate.”

These statement adds room for sanctions against majority groups and their rhetoric in a malicious double standard that is only intended to sow further division and segregation.

Who deceides on someone's perceived race vs their actual race? How will we draw the line between hate and criticism?

In no way do we support race-related hate; however, we believe that one of the many tried and true ways to combat these issues is to encourage an open forum of ideas, where hate may be logically dismantled as the evil it is.

Reddit needs to revoke their recent Content Policy, release a list of banned subreddits citing why, and crowdsource feedback from their own users for future updates that effect everyone involved.

• If liberty means anything, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. - George Orwell
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  If we don’t believe in free expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all. - Noam Chomsky
• Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freedom of speech. - Benjamin Franklin