Reddit Flexes Muscles to Eliminate Stop Online Piracy Act
Posted on 2nd January 2012
Reddit is handling threats to freedom on the Internet its own way.
Written by: Vanessa Formato
Reddit may have a reputation of being the first place many young people go to laugh at memes and find out what’s going viral, but this popular online community has recently begun to prove its clout in the real world. In recent weeks, the website has taken a firm stand against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) using its own brand of community organizing to brilliant effect, proving once and for all that there is no wrath like an Internet user scorned.
Beginning with a thread posted to the politics subreddit, the Reddit community rallied to create a movement. The thread explained GoDaddy’s support of SOPA and the original poster’s plan to move his more than 50 small business websites from the domain. The message hit home and an official date for users to move their websites was set: December 29, 2011 would be Transfer Your GoDaddy Domains Day.
Hundreds of users abandoned GoDaddy in favor of Reddit-approved sites. Users posted detailed instructions on how to make the change and tips on where to get discounts: some competitors offered discounts for GoDaddy defectors under codes such as “SopaSucks.”
Before the official boycott date even came around, GoDaddy publicly pulled its support for SOPA. Online sources including ABC News, Forbes and CNET are crediting Reddit’s boycott efforts as a major motivation for GoDaddy’s change of heart.
SOPA proposes to end online piracy by allowing copyright holders—record companies, Hollywood studios, individuals and more—to demand the removal of any and all unauthorized content that uses their work. While supporters are adamant that the legislation would not lead to widespread censorship, there is a palpable fear that that is exactly what would result if the bill is passed, especially since it would give government agencies the power to shut down entire websites. Social networking sites, Youtube and forums would be especially susceptible to shutdowns because of their nature: users sharing content.
Reddit is not stopping with its campaign against SOPA. The site is now organizing to weed out SOPA-supporting Senators who are up for re-election in 2012 by funding agreed-upon opponents. Ironically, SOPA has inspired the kind of ire that could stand to show the public why Internet censorship is such a bad thing. If SOPA were to shut down social sites like Reddit, this kind of efficient, fast-acting, passionate activism would not be possible. By threatening Internet communities, it may have spelled out its own demise.
Some Redditors were less than thrilled with a recent thread that addressed the GoDaddy takedown and spelled out the potential power the community holds to change public policy. Many members saw the thread as needlessly self-congratulatory and expressed doubts that Reddit could give a repeat performance under different circumstances due to the diversity of its membership. Because of the nature of the site, opposing SOPA is something almost all Redditors can get behind.
“Reddit is a giant amorphous blob pulling in all directions,” wrote one user, WalterFStarbuck. “Only in rare occasions when the vast majority of us can see something as so absurdly dangerously wrong can that blob focus into something as tangibly forcible as a railroad spike.”
The power wielded by large online communities can be a double-edged sword. Take 4Chan’s infamous /b/ imageboard, for instance: at the same time as its members have banded together to catch animal abusers, they have also used the same mob mentality to torment 11-year-old Jessi Slaughter over an outrageous video she posted to Youtube.
Internet forums undoubtedly have the ability to make larger-than-life things happen. The question is whether the good things outweigh the bad. In the case of Reddit and their SOPA activism, it’s hard to imagine an Internet without its own brand of vigilante justice.
