Reddit attributes the blocking of over 90 NSFW subreddits to a technical 'error.'

On Wednesday, numerous NSFW communities on Reddit were temporarily banned due to a "glitch" on the platform. Users were informed that these subreddits were blocked for being "unmoderated," despite the fact that many of them had active moderation, as indicated by several confused moderators in their posts. Engadget reported more than 90 subreddits affected by this "unmoderated" ban. Most of these subreddits were restored after being inactive for a few hours on Wednesday morning.

A Reddit admin commented in the r/ModSupport forum that the widespread bans were due to a technical error. "There was a failure with one of our tools that caused some subreddits to be incorrectly banned," they explained. "We are actively working on a solution, and many of your communities are back up and running. We appreciate the effort to moderate in your communities and will do our best to prevent this from happening again."

A Reddit spokesperson stated that the issue was "a mistake related to how we detect unmoderated communities," without providing further details or confirming how many subreddits were impacted. However, the extent of the glitch appears to be significant, affecting many subreddits with millions of followers.

Among the banned subreddits were some of the most popular NSFW communities, such as r/porn (3.9 million members), r/rule34 (3.6 million), r/boobs (2.5 million), and r/NSFW_gifs (2.1 million). Subreddits related to drugs, such as r/drugs, r/cocaine, and r/NarcoClips, were also banned, along with others allowing NSFW content, like r/transgender_surgeries and r/cubancigars.

The nature of the affected subreddits has raised concerns among some users and moderators, who fear that the company may be preparing for a stricter enforcement of policies. In r/transgender_surgeries, where medical care discussions take place, members began seeking ways to "back up" the subreddit’s content. Other users pointed out that this is the second time in six months that Reddit has mistakenly banned popular NSFW subreddits under the accusation of being unmoderated. In the past, Redditors have complained about similar bans.

"Our subreddit automation system was a bit excessive," admitted a Reddit admin at the time. They added to an existing thread that the recent bans are "different from what happened before," although no further details were provided.