Despite years of strict moderation from the main social networks, the “incel” community remains as influential as it was in 2014, when an English 22-year-old killed seven people on the streets of Isla Vista, California, motivated by his hatred of women.
The murders were an eerie parallel of the shootings in Plymouth last week. Both killers were radicalised on social media, where they posted extensively about their hatred of women and their feelings of despair over their lack of sexual activity.
But in the years since 2014, all the main social networks have acted against the movement. Reddit, which was once home to some of the largest incel communities on the internet, has spent much of the past two years enforcing policies that had previously been only loosely applied.
Subreddits such as r/incels and r/theblackpill have been banned for violating “sitewide rules regarding violent content”. The latter was a gathering point for individuals who described themselves as having been “blackpilled”, a philosophy loosely linked to the incel community where members describe themselves as having been awakened to the true miseries of modern life.
In other communities that could easily cross the line into violent extremism, volunteer moderators work hard to keep the conversation from veering into dark places. The Forever Alone subreddit, for instance, is “a place where people who have been alone most of their lives could come and talk about their issues”. Its 10 volunteer moderators do...
Read Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/aug/16/social-networks-struggle-to-crack-down-on-incel-movement
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.