Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Hackers vandalize Reddit with pro-Trump banners and messages

By

A coordinated hacking attack has hit Reddit, vandalizing dozens of subreddits with material that supports the 2020 reelection campaign of President Donald Trump.

A moderator on r/SubredditDrama posted a list of affected subreddits, which includes r/NFL, r/BlackMirror, r/Food, r/Beer, r/Naruto, r/RupalsDragRace, r/DestinyTheGame, r/TheDailyZeitgeist, and many more.

Recommended Videos

https://twitter.com/crispymemed/status/1291746918696189959

Related

“An investigation is underway related to a series of vandalized communities. It appears the source of the attacks were compromised moderator accounts. We are working to lock down those accounts and restore impacted communities,” a Reddit spokesperson said in a statement to Digital Trends.

Reddit’s security team has started fixing the defaced subreddits, but the vandalism is reportedly returning after just minutes, according to an investigation by ZDNet.

The post on r/SubredditDrama, which provided subreddit moderators with instructions on how they themselves can remove the vandalism, claimed that some of the hacked accounts had two-factor authentication enabled. The post also speculated that the accounts used the same combinations of usernames and passwords in other online forums with weak security, or that a third-party mobile app was compromised.

Reddit shuts down r/The_Donald

In June, after years of violating content policies, Reddit shut down r/The_Donald, the Trump-supporting subreddit that was placed under quarantine last year for content that supported violence.

The shutdown of r/The_Donald came alongside Reddit’s new content policy that aimed to push hate speech out of the online community. About 2,000 subreddits were banned, including r/darkhumorandmemes, r/chapotraphouse, r/consumeproduct, r/darkjokecentral, and r/gendercritical.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Aaron Mamiit
Aaron Mamiit
Contributor
Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…
What happens if Trump bans TikTok?
tiktok logo next to trump

"We may be banning TikTok," President Donald Trump told reporters late on August 1.

The surprise announcement kicked off a messy saga that is getting closer to an end. Trump signed an executive order that sought to ban TikTok due to national security concerns in 45 days unless the company sells off its U.S. operations to an American owner.

Read more
China would rather see TikTok shut down than have Trump force a sale
digital trends live episode 437 106619142 15949038932020 07 16t045305z 1572845887 rc24uh9n1ig1 rtrmadp 0 usa legislation tikt

The Chinese government would reportedly rather see TikTok shut down in the United States than agree to President Donald Trump's demand for a sale to one of its U.S. suitors.

Chinese officials believe that selling TikTok's U.S. assets will make both China-based parent company ByteDance and Beijing look weak amid pressure from Washington, Reuters reported, citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Read more
Trump administration looking at banning business with China’s largest chipmaker
Trump stylized image

The Trump administration is reportedly looking into adding China's largest chipmaker to the Commerce Department's entity list, which will severely restrict the company's business with U.S. firms.

A spokeswoman told Reuters that the Defense Department was working with other agencies to determine whether Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation should be blacklisted, similar to the treatment against other Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE.

Read more