Throwaway Accounts and Moderation on Reddit

TL;DR

This study investigates how anonymous throwaway accounts on Reddit are more prone to rule violations and are moderated similarly to regular accounts, informing platform identity policies and moderation practices.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence linking anonymity via throwaway accounts to increased rule violations and analyzes moderation consistency across account types.

Findings

Throwaway accounts are more likely to violate rules.

Moderation actions are similar for throwaway and regular accounts.

Anonymity does not require increased moderation efforts.

Abstract

Social media platforms (SMPs) facilitate information sharing across varying levels of sensitivity. A crucial design decision for SMP administrators is the platform's identity policy, with some opting for real-name systems while others allow anonymous participation. Content moderation on these platforms is conducted by both humans and automated bots. This paper examines the relationship between anonymity, specifically through the use of ``throwaway'' accounts, and the extent and nature of content moderation on Reddit. Our findings indicate that content originating from anonymous throwaway accounts is more likely to violate rules on Reddit. Thus, they are more likely to be removed by moderation than standard pseudonymous accounts. However, the moderation actions applied to throwaway accounts are consistent with those applied to ordinary accounts, suggesting that the use of anonymous accounts does not necessarily necessitate increased human moderation. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for identity policies and content moderation strategies on SMPs.