Study: Online conspiracy communities are more resilient to deplatforming

Social media can incubate communities that are so resilient that even banning them from the platform cannot destroy them. Michele Starnini and colleagues studied two online communities on the social media site Reddit: the far-right conspiracy theory subreddit "GreatAwakening," which was banned in 2018, and the hate-speech subreddit "FatPeopleHate," banned in 2015. Both communities decided among themselves to move to Voat, an unmoderated Reddit clone designed to serve those banned by Reddit.