TL;DR: Got permanently banned from r/interestingasfuck for commenting about Chinese surveillance, because I posted a news article in a different subreddit. Bots ban you across subreddits based on where you’ve posted, not what you said. Reddit allows it. Protect yourself.
Full text: Today I commented on a post in r/interestingasfuck about a compulsory surveillance app installed on Indian phones. My comment? “Okay but no one bats an eye when China does this?” Within minutes, I was permanently banned. Not for what I said but because I had previously posted in a completely unrelated subreddit.
The ban message: “This action was performed by a bot which does not check the context or content of your comments.”
The bot openly admits it doesn’t care what you actually said.
Here’s something most users don’t realize: when you post in a subreddit, the moderators of that subreddit can see your entire Reddit history for 21-28 days after your last interaction there.
My “offense” was sharing a news article about X unmasking fake Gaza influencer accounts. It had 69 upvotes and 97% approval. Didn’t matter. Bot saw “participated in subreddit on our list” and executed. A command set up by a human moderator. To get unbanned, I have to delete my posts there and recite this exact phrase: “I have read the ban message, deleted all posts and comments in that subreddit and am now ready to be unbanned.” Wrong words = auto-muted by another bot.
That’s not an appeal. It’s a loyalty oath enforced by automation.
Why This Matters
- It creates echo chambers: If participating in one community gets you banned from others, people stop engaging with diverse viewpoints.
- It punishes good-faith engagement: I’ve seen people banned for criticizing a subreddit — the bot doesn’t know if you were agreeing or disagreeing.
What You Can Do
- Block the bots. (list of 52 bots I have found will be in the comments)
- Adjust your privacy settings. Go to Settings > Profile > Content and activity > Hide All. This hides your posts and comments from public view (though mods can still see your history for 21-28 days after you interact with their subreddit).
The Bottom Line: I shouldn’t have to maintain a blocklist of bot accounts and hide my post history just to participate normally.
When the best advice for using a platform is “hide everything about yourself and fragment your identity across multiple accounts,” something has gone fundamentally wrong with how that platform is governed.
Suggestion - Reddit should introduce like X(Twitter) the account created location and where they are currently logged in from.
Edit: from u/boredbythechore Pasting the list of usernames instead of links. I found it quicker to go to Settings -> Privacy -> Blocked accounts and add users that way instead of having to click each link.
hive-protect BotBouncer bot-bouncer Saferbot SaferBot2 SafestBot safebot BotDefense USLBot AutoBanBot MisandryBot banhammerapp evasion-guard SpambotSwatter SpamBustr bot-swatter purge-user RepostSleuthBot MAGIC_EYE_BOT DuplicateDestroyer InstantPeopleSearch ContextModBot modqueue-nuke floodassistant comment-nuke mod-mentions flairassistant auto-modmail toolboxnotesxfer interactive-workflow admin-tattler ChromaticHammer bingo-post automod-sync modmail-userinfo discord-relay modlog-archive AssistantBOT anti-evil erase-user staydownremoved comment-rinse ban-purge title-rinse queue-pruner ai-banning-automation subguard read-the-rules ignorit-app modmailassistant user-flair-bot trendingtattler manipulation-pi videosbot subscriber-count
Edit 2: For making this post on r/self and r/theoryofreddit (which ended up getting removed and this post only remains) the moderator u/kezika has banned me on r/nottheonion for simply making this post, not even making a post there or commenting. Just a warning to anyone who wants to speak up online. And yes I have posted in r/nottheonion but that was a while ago and NOT today and the ban happened today over my disagreement with their comments on these posts and their apparent witch hunt against my opinions. We are allowed to have different opinions man, we are all entitled to them. But silencing me for having one that is different from yours is censorship. If anyone needs proof please DM me I took screenshots before they deleted some of their comments here and on the other subreddits.
If the moderators of this subreddit have an issue with my post please let me know and I will remove, I do not want to break any rules.
Bots
- https://www.reddit.com/user/hive-protect
- https://www.reddit.com/user/BotBouncer
- https://www.reddit.com/user/bot-bouncer
- https://www.reddit.com/user/Saferbot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/SaferBot2
- https://www.reddit.com/user/SafestBot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/safebot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/BotDefense
- https://www.reddit.com/user/USLBot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/AutoBanBot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/MisandryBot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/banhammerapp
- https://www.reddit.com/user/evasion-guard
- https://www.reddit.com/user/SpambotSwatter
- https://www.reddit.com/user/SpamBustr
- https://www.reddit.com/user/bot-swatter
- https://www.reddit.com/user/purge-user
- https://www.reddit.com/user/RepostSleuthBot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/MAGIC_EYE_BOT
- https://www.reddit.com/user/DuplicateDestroyer
- https://www.reddit.com/user/InstantPeopleSearch
- https://www.reddit.com/user/ContextModBot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/modqueue-nuke
- https://www.reddit.com/user/floodassistant
- https://www.reddit.com/user/comment-nuke
- https://www.reddit.com/user/mod-mentions
- https://www.reddit.com/user/flairassistant
- https://www.reddit.com/user/auto-modmail
- https://www.reddit.com/user/toolboxnotesxfer
- https://www.reddit.com/user/interactive-workflow
- https://www.reddit.com/user/admin-tattler
- https://www.reddit.com/user/ChromaticHammer
- https://www.reddit.com/user/bingo-post
- https://www.reddit.com/user/automod-sync
- https://www.reddit.com/user/modmail-userinfo
- https://www.reddit.com/user/discord-relay
- https://www.reddit.com/user/modlog-archive
- https://www.reddit.com/user/AssistantBOT
- https://www.reddit.com/user/anti-evil https://www.reddit.com/user/erase-user
- https://www.reddit.com/user/staydownremoved
- https://www.reddit.com/user/comment-rinse
- https://www.reddit.com/user/ban-purge
- https://www.reddit.com/user/title-rinse
- https://www.reddit.com/user/queue-pruner
- https://www.reddit.com/user/ai-banning-automation
- https://www.reddit.com/user/subguard
- https://www.reddit.com/user/read-the-rules
- https://www.reddit.com/user/ignorit-app
- https://www.reddit.com/user/modmailassistant
- https://www.reddit.com/user/user-flair-bot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/trendingtattler
- https://www.reddit.com/user/manipulation-pi
- https://www.reddit.com/user/videosbot
- https://www.reddit.com/user/subscriber-count
How to block: Click each link > click “…” menu > Block account
Privacy tip: Settings > Profile > Content and activity > Hide All
Easier way to block the bots
Pasting the list of usernames instead of links. I found it quicker to go to Settings -> Privacy -> Blocked accounts and add users that way instead of having to click each link.
hive-protect BotBouncer bot-bouncer Saferbot SaferBot2 SafestBot safebot BotDefense USLBot AutoBanBot MisandryBot banhammerapp evasion-guard SpambotSwatter SpamBustr bot-swatter purge-user RepostSleuthBot MAGIC_EYE_BOT DuplicateDestroyer InstantPeopleSearch ContextModBot modqueue-nuke floodassistant comment-nuke mod-mentions flairassistant auto-modmail toolboxnotesxfer interactive-workflow admin-tattler ChromaticHammer bingo-post automod-sync modmail-userinfo discord-relay modlog-archive AssistantBOT anti-evil erase-user staydownremoved comment-rinse ban-purge title-rinse queue-pruner ai-banning-automation subguard read-the-rules ignorit-app modmailassistant user-flair-bot trendingtattler
My “offense” was sharing a news article about X unmasking fake Gaza influencer accounts… Bot saw “participated in subreddit on our list” and executed.
Well what was the article? Where did you post it? Which subreddit?
I searched for this story and it’s just a bunch of fascist bullshit.
It’s worse than just your garbage “opinion”. It’s pro-genocide disinformation.
Real bots or NPC humans? Does it matter? Reddit is astroturf and narrative crafting central. It’s Pravda for zillennials
That’s ironic, because this post was written by a LLM. The edits are human but the bulk of the initial post is LLM text.
Stop using reddit. Problem solved.
That’s what I did when they banned 3rd party APIs. I remember when Reddit was great, but I have no interest in the sewer it has turned into.
Sometimes I spelunk for information, but I haven’t contributed in years.
Unfortunatly its considered a primary source for Google, correct or not. Some parts of it still catalog relavent answers and help, but its more machine now than man, all twisted and evil.
Love when the Google AI pulls an answer from reddit that was bro clearly a dry, sarcastic joke and presents it as the correct answer.
Basically my feelings as well. I have been trying out noai.duckduckgo and it’s okay.
Duckduckgo annoys me, using Brave and it search engine isn’t too bad.
And that’s why I said it was okay. I feel like it’s slightly better than Yahoo ever was, but it seems to beat around the bush on technical answers.
Maybe I’m spoiled and I have lost my edge.
These leopards look so friendly. They will never eat my face I bet
you can still use reddit, just don’t comment on it. I run my own libreddit instance or use safereddit. problem solved.
Reddit makes you think that you’re out of the loop if you stop using it. You’re not, you’re just out of their controlled loop. Come towards the light and leave that darkness behind. Piefed looks like a good platform as well.
I understand why you consider this problematic and I agree that, being such a massive platform, it worsens society as a whole. I also believe that the best thing you can do as an individual is to stop creating content on a platform like this, don’t participate; make your comments and contributions here or on another site where you feel comfortable and that they treat you like a human being and not like a lemon to be squeezed.
When you create content, contributions, or comments, you add value to the platform. One single contribution might not generate much, but if more and more people leave, Reddit will become less and less useful while the rest win
