Ribeiro et al. 2021 — Do platform migrations compromise content moderation? Evidence from r/The_Donald and r/Incels

What the study found

Horta Ribeiro and colleagues examined r/The_Donald and r/Incels, two communities banned from Reddit that moved to their own standalone websites, to test whether such migrations undo the effect of moderation. In both cases, the bans and relocation significantly cut activity on the new platform — fewer posts, fewer active users and fewer newcomers. ^[1]

users in r/The_Donald showed increases in signals associated with toxicity and radicalisation

^[1]

On that basis the authors say the reduction in activity may come at the expense of a more toxic and radical community. ^[1]

Why it matters here

The finding is cited to weigh the trade-offs of platform bans. It shows deplatforming can genuinely shrink a community's reach while, at least for r/The_Donald, leaving the members who follow it to a new home more toxic and radical than before. That two-sided result is central to does deplatforming work?, where it tempers any straightforward claim that bans simply reduce harm, and instead frames the question as a balance between lower reach and higher intensity.