Summary

Reddit is removing posts linking to Luigi Mangione’s manifesto, citing its longstanding policy against content related to violent acts.

The manifesto, tied to the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has sparked online fascination and debate.

While Reddit allows discussion of the manifesto within its rules, posts linking to its full text—shared on Substack by journalist Ken Klippenstein—are being removed, angering users.

Critics accuse Reddit of selective moderation, as some sympathize with Mangione’s frustrations over the U.S. healthcare system, which has come under renewed scrutiny after the incident.

    • @robocall@lemmy.world
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      664 days ago

      “To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience. The spiral notebook, if present, has some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it. My tech is pretty locked down because I work in engineering so probably not much info there. I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming. A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but has our life expectancy? No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it. Obviously the problem is more complex, but I do not have space, and frankly I do not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument. But many have illuminated the corruption and greed (e.g.: Rosenthal, Moore), decades ago and the problems simply remain. It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play. Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.”

    • comfy
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      304 days ago

      If you look at each wave of subreddit removals, it’s only after it gets sufficient news coverage. That’s why they aren’t removing those videos.

      • @dan@upvote.au
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        4 days ago

        Plus they’re likely removing things that advertisers don’t like, so if it gets less coverage, advertisers are less likely to notice and report it.

  • P-38lightning
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    24 days ago

    Probably because reddit doesn’t want people finding out, after reading his manifesto, that the guy was a low IQ fucking moron.

  • @robocall@lemmy.world
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    224 days ago

    law enforcement has been circulating their own typed copy of the manifesto because it’s based off of hand written notes. I’m not sure if any journalists have seen a photo or the original “manifesto”

    Reddit and mainstream media’s censorship of this story is all about controlling the narrative.

    • @evilcultist@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      There’s an Atlantic article by Charlie Warzel that references it to try to make his comments seem flippant. The news is heavily trying to create or avoid a narrative on this.

      “When Mangione was caught, he had with him a note or manifesto of sorts, less than 300 words long. Near the beginning, it offers the following: “This was fairly trivial.” The phrase is cold, detached, and haunting. It might merely be the garden-variety bravado of a gunman. But the sentence also conjures a possibility that is much harder to sit with (and for the internet to latch onto). Of all the possible outcomes available, the least shared, argued over, and considered is one that the shooter alludes to himself—that what feels to all of us like an era-defining event may ultimately be unremarkable in its brutality, in its inability to effect change, and in how quickly everyone moves on.”

      I feel like either of these interpretations is way off the mark. The phrase is more likely him suggesting that it doesn’t take a lot of work or a sharp mind to pull it off, which would be a nightmare for anyone trying to keep it from happening again.

      • @DokPsy@lemmy.world
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        54 days ago

        If the transcript I’ve seen floating around is accurate, the phrase “this was fairly trivial” absolutely was about how difficult it was to pull off. The lines above and below it talk about super basic social engineering that anyone could do and the hard part of the tool engineering has already been done.

      • @MonkeyBusiness@sh.itjust.works
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        54 days ago

        That reads like a sophisticated version of something a primetime Fox News anchor would say to control how their viewers understand an event. The author picked one specific line to quote and twisted the meaning to assassinate Mangione’s character and obfuscate the rest of the letter. It’s straight propaganda.

  • “Longstanding”

    Which longstanding? Reddit for the longest time had links to all kinds of gore and violence, and still did when I last happened across some before I left. “Longstanding” must mean “since we decided to enforce an interpretation of it when we wanted to go public.”

    • Sculptus Poe
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      124 days ago

      Reddit has become a place where you have to fear saying anything. Bots are permabanning people from subs for dark humor and obvious hyperbole. The internet used to be a place you could go where people understood that mode of speech and didn’t suspect everybody of being a homicidal maniac.

      • @Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        Reddit is performing propaganda for the US government (who represents the owner/wealthy class), just like most other social media or news sites.

    • @Belgdore@lemm.ee
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      34 days ago

      Longstanding means since Reddit went public (or since Reddit started gearing up to go public)

    • Sabata
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      154 days ago

      “The shareholders demanded we lie to keep advertisers”

  • JoYo 🇺🇸
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    144 days ago

    the manifesto is fake anyways. the NYPD wrote it and y’all just believe anything they tell you. fucking monopoly money? that’s some batman villain shit only a blue blood could think of.

  • @yarr@feddit.nl
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    4 days ago

    Classic Reddit: “Reddit is meant to be a bastion of free speech”

    2024 Reddit: “All hail corporate! Click on more ads!”

    • @1985MustangCobra@lemmy.ca
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      4 days ago

      classic reddit wasn’t even about any type of speech(in the comments), it was a news aggregator site. Once it became “social media” it went off the fucking rails.

    • @Paddzr@lemmy.world
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      524 days ago

      No he isn’t.

      Let’s not act like bunch of idiots. It’s all about money. If advertisers see posts they don’t like, do you think they want to see their brand next to a post about Luigi?

      WE CANNOT BE THIS STUPID. It’s how they win. You might be making that comment as a gag or joke, but many clearly aren’t reading it as such. The answer is ALWAYS money.

  • @bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    Considering reddit now has shareholders to answer to, and also considering u/spez is a greedy little pig boy, this tracks and should be of no surprise to anyone.