William Shatner: ‘I am appalled that Reddit allows homophobia and racism’
Actor William Shatner has criticised the user-generated news site, Reddit, for what he said were “homophobic”, “sexist”, and “racist” posts, which weren’t adequately moderated.
The 81-year-old Star Trek Actor wrote a post titled, turning off private messages, asking for a way to switch off private messages from other users, as he was new to the site.
He wrote:”I am appalled by some of the immature, horifically racist, sexist, homophobic…posts that are just ignored”.
“Reddit has been the first ‘mainstream’ site that I have been to that actually appears to allow racists and other hate mongers to congregate”.
Mr Shatner joined Reddit in January, and posted his comments on 9 February His comment received more than 2,300 upvotes,
Users of Reddit claim that moderation goes against the site’s policies and that hate speech is just a negative aspect of the freedom of speech provided by it.
Mr Shatner wrote: “The fact that someone could come here, debase and degrade people based on race, religion, ethnicity or sexual preference because ‘they have a right’ to do so without worry of any kind of moderation is sending the wrong message.”
He also Tweeted to ask: “Another reddit question. So What is the difference between what I do here and an AMA?”
“I think I’ll wait for the next [Ask Me Anything] and see. I am horrified by a lot of the racist and cruel gender, sexuality & religious posts made there.”
Some users confirmed that, despite being asked to not post personal information or child abuse images, those types of images and information were still available on the site, reports New Europe.
In October 2012, Reddit’s CEO Yishan Wong said the site wouldn’t remove content, even if “we find it odious or if we personally condemn it”.
