What happened
Paul McCartney’s Reddit account was banned after it shared photos from one of his own live performances using a Dropbox link on the platform.
The posts featured images from McCartney’s concerts at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, which were staged over two nights, March 27 and 28.
The thread has since been taken down, and McCartney’s Reddit account, which appears to be managed by his team, has been restored.
A phone-free show, then a ban
The photos were posted to a subreddit devoted to the former Beatle. Until then, the account had only made one other post.
The message accompanying the images read: “Hope you enjoyed the show at Fonda Theatre last night,” before explaining that the photos were meant for fans who could not attend the performance.
It added: “As last night was a phone-free experience, we wanted to make sure that you had some memories from the show to share with friends, family and loved ones.”
In other words, the account was apparently trying to be helpful and ended up getting flagged by the platform for documenting its own event. Subtle, it was not.
Reddit users notice the irony
The situation quickly drew attention online after users pointed out the absurdity of McCartney being blocked for posting images from a show he was actually performing in.
The moderation team for the Paul McCartney subreddit has not commented on the ban, and it remains unclear whether the action was taken automatically or by a human moderator with a very specific interpretation of the rules.
Another Reddit moderation moment
Whatever the explanation, the incident is not exactly uncharted territory for Reddit moderation drama.
After being removed from his role as a moderator for the popular LivestreamFails subreddit, Stale2000 posted a video arguing that Reddit moderators should be treated like celebrities.
