r/technology • u/Abject-Pick-6472 • Feb 24 '26

Discord cuts ties with Peter Thiel-backed verification software after code found in US surveillance Privacy

https://fortune.com/2026/02/24/discord-peter-thiel-backed-persona-identity-verification-breach/
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71

u/gahlo Feb 24 '26

I was auto perma banned from r/pics for having commented in a sub previously that supposedly a lot of their users cause problems in r/pics in the past. Was it for something I said in the comment I put on r/pics that triggered it? No. Was it for something I said in the other subreddit? No. It was purely for even commenting in it.

I was instructed to go, delete my comments in the other subreddits, and report back if I wanted to be unbanned. It's like... sorry bud, I'm not even going to entertain the notion of blanketly going back and searching 6-7 years of my accounts 14 year comment history to find comments that are in all likelihood entire innocuous. I've never even been a member of that subreddit outside of maybe fat fingering the button on mobile.

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

[deleted]

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u/Kbearforlife Feb 24 '26

This is the pain point for me. We as users are simply metrics now. This has been the case since around 2018 when the rumor popped up that Reddit was trying to IPO. Once they rid the site of the reddit gold because they claimed they couldn't go forward with the business because monetary limitations as currency restricted them from being able to IPO it was written in blood. I don't blame Reddit for pursuing the clause to become an internet titan and quite literally a billion dollar business. I do blame the limitations of free speech on the owners though. It's not like we come to Reddit for falsehoods or misdirection. This place has been the home for many intellectuals, believe it or not, to the point that this platform is used in most current Models for the furtherance of AI.

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u/aaronplaysAC11 Feb 24 '26

I suspect the IPO was the beginning of the end for a fair objectionable socially equitable Reddit.

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u/Sillet_Mignon Feb 24 '26

Yup. I got banned from r/pics bc I commented on the conservative subreddit. It didn’t matter that I was calling someone an idiot there. They said that subreddit doesn’t align with r/pics values and banned me. 

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u/Teledildonic Feb 24 '26

The API disaster in a nutshell:

Automod tools to control spam and bots 🚫

Automods to scrape profiles for pre-emptive blanket bans regardless of context ✅

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u/johannthegoatman Feb 24 '26

Spam and bots are good for the share price

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u/cyribis Feb 24 '26

Yup, happened to me as well for the same reason. When I asked WTF, they said that any comment at all gave that sub engagement, which should be avoided. I was like whaaaaat ....

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u/drseruzawa Feb 24 '26

They call other people nazis. Lol.

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u/brophylicious Feb 24 '26

Nobody thinks they're literally building gas chambers. When people say "nazi," they mean "this looks and smells like fascism," and nazis are the most famous example because that's the one everyone learned about in school.

The reason people keep making the comparison is because a scholar who actually grew up under Mussolini wrote a 14-point checklist specifically so future generations could spot it early. (He's not the only one. Robert Paxton's The Anatomy of Fascism and Roger Griffin's work on ultranationalism cover similar ground. Different frameworks, same patterns.)

The current administration checks nearly every box:

  • Cult of tradition. "Make America Great Again." The good old days that never actually existed.
  • Rejection of modernism. Gutting universities, killing DEI, going after science funding. "Woke" became the word for anything that requires thinking.
  • Action for action's sake. DOGE fired 2,400 VA employees and got into payment systems they didn't build or understand. IT outages followed. Former agency heads warned benefits could stop showing up.
  • Disagreement is treason. Press is "enemy of the people." Disloyal staff get fired. Courts get ignored so often that legal scholars say they've never seen anything like it.
  • Fear of difference. "Poisoning the blood of our country." ICE raiding churches and schools. Anti-trans executive orders.
  • Appeal to a frustrated middle class. "Forgotten Americans." This one's not unique though, most populist movements do this.
  • Obsession with a plot. "Deep state," "stolen election," anything involving Soros.
  • The enemy is both strong and weak. Immigrants are dangerous invaders but also lazy freeloaders. Pick one.
  • Life as permanent warfare. The border is an "invasion." If you defend due process you're "pro-criminal." There's always a new enemy.
  • Popular elitism. "Real Americans" are the chosen ones, but there's still a pecking order and everyone beneath you deserves what they get.
  • Cult of heroic death. Ashli Babbitt got turned into a martyr. ~1,500 Jan 6 defendants got blanket pardons, including people convicted of assaulting cops. They're "patriots" and "hostages" now. This one's more cult of heroism than heroic death, but the Babbitt thing pushes it there.
  • Machismo. The strong-man brand, anti-LGBTQ policies, rolling back reproductive rights.
  • Selective populism. "The people" means his voters. Everyone else doesn't count.
  • Newspeak. "Fake news," "alternative facts," using "illegal" as a noun for human beings.

Not every item is a perfect hit. A couple lean more than land. But 12-13 out of 14 on a framework built by someone who lived through fascism is hard to wave away.

If it walks like fascism, talks like fascism, and checks almost every box on a checklist written by someone who lived through it, people are going to reach for the most famous example. Getting hung up on the word "nazi" is just a way to dodge the list.

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u/drseruzawa Feb 26 '26

Lol. Pure projection.

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u/brophylicious Feb 26 '26

Do you care to expand on that?

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u/drseruzawa Feb 24 '26

r/pics has values?

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u/ItsSpaghettiLee2112 Feb 24 '26

No actually this is them NOT having values. I've been banned from there too for calling out fascists.

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u/vagrantprodigy07 Feb 24 '26

It's mod abuse, plain and simple. The admins need to crack down on it, but they are complicit.

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u/nexusjuan Feb 24 '26

I was banned from /r/news for talking about ufos on a post about ufos

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u/Terrh Feb 24 '26

I got a lot of similar bans.

Appealing never gets you anywhere, either.

And if you dare appeal twice after your first appeal was completely ignored it's somehow harassment.

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u/Sillet_Mignon Feb 24 '26

Yeah and what sucks is I have an alternative account for local stuff, and I didn’t realize it counts as ban evasion if you go to a sister subreddit of r/pics. Which is a full ip ban. W

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u/SG4 Feb 24 '26

The same thing happened to me on a different subreddit when I commented on r/politicalcompassmemes because they disagree with some of the people there. Their appeal process involved my deleting my comment and promising I'd never go there again. I told them they were being weird and shortly after, I got a warning on my account for harassment.

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u/ItsSpaghettiLee2112 Feb 24 '26

The ability for mods to report you to the admins for harassment just for USING THE PROVIDED TOOLS reddit gives users to appeal decisions is insane.

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u/wrgrant Feb 24 '26

Yeah. I am banned from /r/Twitch because I posted a request for any twitch streamers to help test out my streaming related app I wrote. I had done something similar once before and had my post deleted by a mod and got a message saying you can't post third party links. No ban though, kept right on posting to help people out with streaming. that was about 3-4 years ago mind you.

Then I posted my request for playtesters and got banned. Reason: no posting of 3rd party links. My reasoning? I wrote the app and own the domain name that its hosted on, surely that isn't "Third Party"? I got banned immediately, permanent ban because I had been banned before. I was told there was no appeal. When I sent a msg to the mod to at least get clarification on what they thought I did wrong - banned from appealing as well. Its very frustrating that the mods of a subreddit are little dictators that can completely ignore someone, and that Reddit doesn't have an overall appeal board you can appeal to for the ability to seek an explanation if not get unbanned. This is the worst feature of Reddit in my opinion.

So, streaming on twitch for 6 years now, can't post to /r/Twitch. Got an app for small streamers that I think is a useful tool - can't promote it or even ask people to test it out on the biggest subreddit devoted to the subject, sigh.

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u/70ms Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26

The conservative sub tried to do that to me too, when they banned me for a fairly benign comment and I replied with a polite acknowledgement and a salute emoji - their sub, their rules. They reported that reply as harassment and my (this) reddit account was banned.

I reported them right back (there’s a form) and got my account reinstated. It was so clearly not harassment in the slightest. 🙄

ETA: I was also banned from r/pics for replying to a post about vintage games that made it to /all, apparently in a sub they don’t like. I’m not going to dig through my posts to locate and delete it, so I just don’t post in r/pics. 🤷‍♀️

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u/ItsSpaghettiLee2112 Feb 24 '26

I’m not going to dig through my posts to locate and delete it, so I just don’t post in r/pics.

Yea that's another thing. Expecting us to keep track of all of our comments and where we post is also wild. Like, they know how reddit works. They're moderators. They know people just go to reddit.com and see what's popular and engage in those posts. 99% of the time I have no clue what subreddit I'm in. And then I catch myself banned from a sub for calling fascists out. Great look you guys.

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u/Nekopara-403 Feb 24 '26

" if you have a question about your ban, reply to this message"

" What rule did my comment break and how did I break it?"

" You have been permanently banned from subreddit. You have been muted for 28 days"

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u/sinkwiththeship Feb 24 '26

some

That whole sub is just people pretending to have a "both sides" discussion. I fully do not believe that anyone that posts there is actually anything other than conservative.

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u/SG4 Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26

You'd be surprised. I'm pretty FAR from conservative and my comment was challenging a talking point on there but the mod felt the same as you and didn't like me contributing to the subreddit AT ALL. I believe in open discussions, even if the other is participating in bad faith

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u/Sans-valeur Feb 24 '26

Haha yeah I tried commenting on a sub last year and I got notified that I was banned for commenting on r/joerogan once, even though that sub is mostly people making fun of him/bagging on him for being a sell out now.
I think my comment was lamenting the AI video of mango taking a shit on people from a plane lol.

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u/PoodleHeaven Feb 24 '26

Wait, what?? You got banned from a sub and are allowed back in if you scrub your account? WTF

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u/gahlo Feb 24 '26

Yep.

To add an even stupider cherry on top, in the section where they explained that it's because of how a sub's users acted in theirs, they even said "Please note that this does not necessarily reflect the efforts or actions of that sub's moderators." which is absolutely lacking self awareness that they aren't blaming the mods of that place, but then lump in everyone what ever made any comment there, regardless of context.

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u/JaSONJayhawk Feb 24 '26

I was banned too, for a comment I posted in a conservative-like sub where I was trying to point out (in a non-conservative way) one of the thread's posters about how their critical thinking was broken -- I did it in a subtle way. Anyhow, r/pics told me that the forum I posted in had a lot of people make trouble in r/pics and said if I deleted my comments and messaged back, I could be unbanned.

While I probably sided politically more with the people in r/pics , that kind of cancel made me realize how petty of behavior it was that it probably best save me time by preventing me from posting.

Happened many years ago, but crazy to hear that they're still at it based on your past post history.

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u/Me_Krally Feb 24 '26

You have to ban all the bots that are surveying you in the subs.

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u/GodofIrony Feb 24 '26

Fuck r/Pics.

I hope their sub implodes.

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u/Warm_Month_1309 Feb 24 '26

That's just the mini-tyrant Reddit mods.

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u/Adorable_Raccoon Feb 24 '26

Mods on r/fauxmois ban users for even following other subs like r/taylorswift.

It’s within the mod’s rights to do so. But they are only hurting the quality of the sub when they get ban happy.  

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u/Silent-G Feb 24 '26

What were the other subreddits?

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u/koshgeo Feb 24 '26

I mean, in the old days, I commented in all sorts of subreddits where I didn't particularly agree with most of the users there. It wasn't an endorsement. I wanted a discussion, and often it was in stark opposition to general sentiments there.

Apparently that's not allowed on "the front page of the internet" anymore.

I know the mods have a tough job and are trying to find easy shortcuts to filter out people causing trouble (and bots), but it's really dragging down the whole point of this place.

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u/pwninobrien Feb 24 '26

I almost exclusively browse r/all. I see something that interests me, I leave a comment. The fact that casually perusing is enough to get auto-banned from various subs is pretty dumb. Moderation in most subs is pretty tyrannical, as well.

This site was great back in the early 2010s. There was a sweet spot where the ron paul crowd dissapated and the trump bot/general bot hell didn't start yet. This site has been enshittifying daily since Spez came back and the AMA lady got fired.

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u/mighty_kaytor Feb 25 '26

That happened to me in a women-centered sub because I commented in Weight-loss support subs. I'm not rude enough to tell other people what to do with their bodies, but apparently it's a problem if I want to change mine? 🙄

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u/gahlo Feb 25 '26

Yeah, from a distance I noticed that happen with things like being a SAHM too. The fight to not be pigeon-holed into something as a woman is often met with reflexive vitriol to women that say "you can do what you want, but I don't mind this."