Ethan Klein declares war on r/Fauxmoi. But can a subreddit even be sued?

Pop culture subreddit r/Fauxmoi is facing accusations of defamation from YouTuber and podcaster Ethan Klein.

Klein first rose to internet fame through his YouTube channel, h3h3Productions, which he co-created with his wife, Hila Klein. The channel now boasts 5.71 million subscribers. The Kleins caught the attention of r/Fauxmoi—a subreddit inspired by the popular Instagram story page Deuxmoi—after Hila shared an Instagram story claiming that a potential collaboration fell apart due to antisemitism. In response, the subreddit was flooded with posts resurfacing alleged problematic behavior and controversial language used by the Kleins on camera.

Ethan fired back at r/Fauxmoi, sharing the subreddit post with his two million Instagram followers, comparing the subreddit to a “neo-Nazi” forum. According to a follow-up post on r/Fauxmoi, Klein then escalated the situation further by going live on YouTube, where he launched into a tirade against multiple subreddits—including r/Fauxmoi—claiming he was being “mass gaslighted” and declaring, “I’ve never seen anyone in the history of the internet be harassed like this.” Klein went on to say that the criticism against him was so extreme that “Russian propagandists would blush at the hate campaign going against us.”

During the livestream, Klein also issued veiled threats, saying, “A lot of these people think they’re safe, but they will soon find out they’re not,” while hinting that he’s “preparing stuff and working behind the scenes.” He urged his followers to “stand back and stand by because there’s something in the works that I just can’t wait for.” 

In an interview with Kate Lindsay, who writes the Embedded Substack and co-hosts Slate’s podcast ICYMI, one of the lead moderators of r/Fauxmoi, an anonymous college student from Canada, describes how the situation has escalated to the point where two moderators were forced to delete their accounts due to the harassment and doxxing threats they were receiving.

“Most people discussed on the subreddit have meaningful public reputations to maintain, and this means that pursuing petty claims against social media users and engaging in conspiracy theories is perceived as being beneath their station,” the mod told Lindsay. “When it comes to influencers (particularly those whose content is based largely on engagement and feuds rather than substance), they are often more sensitive regarding their reputations, and have less PR and business savvy.” (Neither Klein nor Reddit responded to Fast Company‘s request for comment.)

But can a subreddit even be sued for defamation? Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 states that online service providers cannot be held liable for content posted by users. This means that platforms like Reddit are not considered publishers of user-generated content. However, it’s still possible to sue for unfair content moderation. What this saga means for free speech on the internet, and the right to gossip and share information online, remains to be seen. 

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