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Joe Biden won the election despite claims of widespread fraud. Senator Tammy Duckworth blamed Reddit conspiracies for the January 6th Capitol events. Reddit banned the head moderator of r/conspiracy, raising questions about government influence. Reddit, founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman (Spez) and Alexis Ohanian, began with a conspiracy-related post.
The word "conspiracy" has been negatively warped to demonize dissent. Reddit embraced deception early on with fake accounts. Conde Nast acquired Reddit in 2006, leading to Aaron Swartz's departure. Reddit's Karma system led to a black market for accounts and mod positions. User Maxwell Hill, linked to Ghislaine Maxwell, abruptly stopped posting after Maxwell's arrest. Reddit hired controversial figures, including one from NATO's Atlantic Council, who claimed Russia used Reddit for propaganda.
Reddit's connection with the national security state became blatant. R/conspiracy, created in 2008, allowed free discussion due to the word's semantic buffer. By 2011, manipulation was rampant, with harassment from intelligence agencies. R/conspiracy maintained a public moderation log, a rarity on Reddit. In 2013, Aaron Swartz's death sparked debate, and power mods like Maxwell Hill censored content. David Rice 666 defended Israel and labeled critics anti-Semitic. Axolotl Peyotal, a prolific contributor, posted about controversial topics.
In 2013, the Boston bombing thrust r/conspiracy into the spotlight. A mod purge occurred, followed by restructuring. R/conspiracy faced attacks from r/conspiritard, who coordinated brigades. In 2017, Jessica Achiou claimed Russia was using Reddit for propaganda. In 2020, Axolotl Peyotal warned of a coming night of the team, and then was permanently suspended from Reddit.