Deciding to Delete Posts on Reddit: What Factors Influence Content Removal
Publication: Proceedings of the 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2024
Abstract
This study uses the sociological theories of deviance and social control to explore factors that contribute to post deletion and/or removal on Reddit’s most active subreddits. Using a random sample of over 1 million Reddit submissions, we show that the presence of language attacking others’ identities is somewhat strikingly associated with both user- initiated content deletion and moderator-initiated content deletion on Reddit. Findings offer insight into what it means to patrol the boundaries of acceptable communication online and what factors may contribute to the decision-making that precedes post deletion on social media platforms.
Keywords
Content deletion; identity threats; toxicity 1.
How to Cite
Vargo, C., Masullo, G., & Hopp, T. (2024). Deciding to Delete Posts on Reddit: What Factors Influence Content Removal. Proceedings of the 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Track: Digital and Social Media, Minitrack: Decision Making in Online Social Networks.
Version and Rights
This is the author preprint.