Moderators of the Formula 1 page on Reddit have announced they will trial banning posts from X, formerly Twitter, in the weeks leading into the new season.
It is intended the ban permanent will become permanent as moderators encourage fans and the F1 media to switch over to the emerging Bluesky platform.
The F1 subreddit has a 4.8 million-strong membership, ranking it among the top one percent of communities on the platform.
“For a trial period we will ban all content from Twitter with the only exception of screenshots of relevant posts by teams, drivers & F1 that are not available on any other platform,” it was announced.
“Even in case of major breaking news, we ask you to post links to the press releases or a screenshot of the post from Instagram, with a link in the comments.
“We hope that this trial period will provide a nudge for F1 journalists, creators and teams to make their content available on alternative platforms as we intend to make this ban permanent in some form.”
A host of F1 media outlets (including Speedcafe), journalists, and content creators have made the switch to Bluesky.
Since Musk took over Twitter in 2022 it has undergone significant changes many argue have detracted from the user experience.
That has included the relaxation of content moderation under the guise of freedom of speech and the removal of account verification in place of a monetised model.
Musk slashed the organisation’s workforce claiming it had been losing $4 million a day.
Having paid $44 billion for the platform, it was estimated to have lost as much as 80 percent of its value last October.
In addition to owning Twitter, Musk also owns Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and head’s United States president Donald Trump’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’.
The billionaire hit the headlines during Trump’s inauguration earlier this week after being accused of making Nazi salutes during proceedings.
The move to ban X/Twitter in the F1 subreddit was raised amid suggestions “the values of most F1 fans generally oppose those of the person running that platform.”
Suggested by a member of the community, the ban was implemented just 24 hours later.
