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The subreddit r/antiwork has switched to private shortly after a moderator's Fox News interview.
- In a post, it says mods are dealing with "ongoing brigading'' and have promised to be back soon.
- r/antiwork, which advocates against exploitative labor, saw its membership surge in 2021.
An "antiwork" subreddit that went viral for its criticism of the labor market was suddenly switched to private on Wednesday. It followed an appearance by one of its moderators on Fox News to discuss the community.
r/antiwork, which was founded in 2013, saw its membership swell to over 1.7 million during the pandemic. However, on January 26, it closed to new members.
"r/antiwork is a private community," read the post on the landing page. "We're closed while we deal with the cleanup from ongoing brigading."
Brigading is a general term used to describe a coordinated attempt by one online group to undermine another. Brigaders is a term used by Redditors to refer to passive or new users in a subreddit.
Before the subreddit was made private, multiple members were complaining that posts were being blocked or censored for criticizing the decision of a moderator to accept an interview with Fox News, and the subsequent negative image it portrayed.
On January 26, Doreen Ford, a 30-year-old dog walker who has made regular media appearances, was featured on Fox News. During the interview, she defended accusations by Fox News host Jesse Watters that anti-workers promote laziness.
The portrayal of members as simply being anti-capitalist and lazy has been a source of frustration for them. They say the community is actually about reforming a labor system that is exploitative of many, especially those in low-paid roles.
Threads on the subreddit regularly contain members' screenshots of conversations with bosses, discussions about work reform or advice from the community about how to deal with situations at work.
"We're a movement where we want to reduce the amount of work people feel they are forced to do," Ford told Fox News. "We want to put in the effort, put in labor, but we don't necessarily want to be in a position where we feel trapped."
In a now archived post, a user claiming to be a moderator said the group was under "heavy fire" from new users that had never participated in the sub.
The user said they are banning the brigaders and trying not to ban active contributors to the subreddit. They will decline all interviews with right-wing media from now on, they added.
Moderators have yet to respond to Insider's approach for comment, which was made during UK working hours.
The post on r/antiwork said that new members don't need to request to join. "We'll be back real soon. I promise," it said, but did not specify when.
Since r/antiwork went private, Redditors seem to have flocked elsewhere. The subreddit r/WorkReform was started on Jan 26, and at the time of writing had already amassed 300,000 members.