‘Pokémon Go’ subreddit goes private to protest misinformation on Reddit

The Pokémon Go subreddit has moved to private mode to protest Reddit’s alleged “inaction against Covid misinformation”.

Moderators of the Pokémon Go subreddit have made the sub inaccessible, stating that the community will remain private until Subreddits “dedicated entirely to misinformation are banned”.

In a message displayed when trying to access the sub, moderators claim that “Covid directly impacts this game because Go is played outside in real life with others”, which is why they are taking action against Reddit’s perceived lack of action against on-site communities that share misinformation surrounding the pandemic.

The protest specifically names Reddit communities such as ‘NoNewNormal’, which is quarantined by Reddit but still up. A quarantine – which means users must opt in to view it – is applied to subreddits that are “highly offensive or upsetting” as well as those that are “dedicated to promoting hoaxes that warrant additional scrutiny, as there are some things that are either verifiable or falsifiable and not seriously up for debate”.

This isn’t the first time that the subreddit has prompted action. Earlier in the month, moderators of the subreddit claimed Pokémon Go creator Niantic offered a “woefully inadequate” response to concerns that the 80m interaction should not be reduced back to 40m. Due to feedback from the community, last week (August 26) Niantic announced that the interaction radius would remain at 80m.

In other news, Disco Elysium The Final Cut has been rated for Xbox and Nintendo Switch, meaning that fans on those platforms will likely get to play the extended version of the game soon.

The Final Cut includes a complete voice-acting overhaul, as well as new political vision quests to complete, more citizens of Revachol to meet and new areas to explore.