- A new, work-related subreddit has gained 300,000 users in one day.
- r/WorkReform emerged after the original r/antiwork sub was made private.
- Users complained that their posts were being censored and the name no longer reflected the movement.
The "anti-work" movement seemingly has a new home.
A new subreddit r/WorkReform has gathered more than 300,000 members a day after it was formed. It follows a Reddit storm that emerged on Wednesday after the moderators of the viral subreddit r/antiwork temporarily made the group private.
They said they did so to deal with "ongoing brigading" from users. However, multiple users complained that their posts had been censored or deleted after raising concerns about the portrayal of the movement, following a Fox News interview by one of the sub's moderators.
r/antiworkwas founded in 2013, but has garnered increased attention during the pandemic after its membership skyrocketed to 1.7 million. The subreddit advocates for better working conditions and pushes back against bad bosses.
However, many longstanding members expressed frustration about how the movement is often misrepresented as being anti-work and promoting laziness, rather than as a platform to discuss and change exploitative labor practices.
The emergence of r/WorkReform, which was started on January 26, seems to reflect this.
"Antiwork was a dumb name anyway," posted a user named u/TimothyBukinowski in one example. "Most people want to work. We just don't want to be exploited. We want reform. We have the power, never forget that." It has received 10,000 likes.
While there are lots of memes mocking r/antiwork, other threads follow a similar vein to those that appeared on the sub, with users highlighting exploitative bosses and asking for advice on how to handle situations.
Others talk about needing to be more organized if the movement is going to help improve labor.
"We believe that each person should not be worked to death by their employers with ridiculous wages that are unable to cover basic life needs," it says in the group description. It advocates that labor should provide every person with all basic life necessities, including food, healthcare, and shelter. "One should not have to give up one for the other," it reads.
The group's image, which features a raised fist holding a sign, has the phrase transparency is key, underneath the name of the sub.
In a comment, a user u/RIOP3L, a moderator of the site, suggested that a process to democratically approve moderators will be sorted out in time. They did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, which was placed during UK working hours.