In the current landscape of online abuses and harms, effective content moderation is necessary to cultivate safe and inclusive online spaces. Yet, the effectiveness of many moderation interventions is still unclear. Here, we assess the effectiveness of The Great Ban, a massive deplatforming operation that affected nearly 2,000 communities on Reddit. By analyzing 16M comments posted by 17K users during 14 months, we provide nuanced results on the effects, both desired and otherwise, of the ban. Among our main findings is that 15.6% of the affected users left Reddit and that those who remained reduced their toxicity by 6.6% on average. The ban also caused 5% users to increase their toxicity by more than 70% of their pre-ban level. Overall, our multifaceted results provide new insights into the efficacy of deplatforming. As such, our findings can inform the development of future moderation interventions and the policing of online platforms.

翻译：在当前网络滥言与危害频发的背景下，有效的内容审核对于营造安全包容的网络空间至关重要。然而，许多审核干预措施的有效性仍不明确。本文评估了"大清洗"行动的效果——这是一次影响Reddit近2000个社区的大规模封禁操作。通过分析14个月内1.7万用户发布的1600万条评论，我们提供了关于该封禁行动预期与非预期效果的细致结果。主要发现包括：15.6%的受影响用户离开了Reddit，而留下的用户平均毒性降低了6.6%。同时，该封禁也导致5%的用户毒性水平较封禁前上升超过70%。总体而言，我们的多维度结果为封禁治理的有效性提供了新见解。这些发现可为未来审核干预措施的制定及在线平台的监管提供参考依据。