Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit goes extremely NSFW in Reddit protest

The main Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit, r/cyberpunkgame, is protesting against recent changes to the Reddit platform by flooding the community with nudity and other NSFW (not safe for work) content, part of the overall pushback against Reddit’s API changes. Members of the subreddit, which boasts more than 1.1 million Cyberpunk fans, have been posting naked versions of their 2077 characters alongside NSFW and “adults-only” content like artwork and players wielding dildos in the game.

A moderator on the Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit says that Reddit administrators, using the site’s Moderator Code of Conduct account, have since reached out to the r/cyberpunkgame mod team, “demanding [they] switch back.”

“They didn’t allow us to reply, so we couldn’t explain that this is a subreddit for an 18+ game, nor has any of our content changed,” subreddit moderator Tabnam wrote on Wednesday. “This subreddit should have been NSFW already, but we’d never thought to change it until recently.

“Until we change it back we’re in violation of Reddit’s sitewide rules. We’re not going to change it back, because this is a sexually explicit game, and also fuck them.”

Moderators of other subreddits that have recently flagged themselves as NSFW, including r/PICS and r/military, say they received similar messages from Reddit’s Mod Code of Conduct team, warning them that they are “inaccurately labeling” their communities as NSFW. On Thursday, a moderator for r/PICS posted the following message, said to be from the Mod Code of Conduct team:

This is a final warning for inaccurately labeling your community NSFW which is a violation of the Mod Code of Conduct rule 2. Your subreddit has not historically been considered NSFW nor would they under our current policies.

Please immediately correct the NSFW labeling on your subreddit. Failure to do so will result in action being taken on your moderator team by the end of this week. This means moderators involved in this activity will be removed from this mod team. Moderators may also be subject to additional actions, e.g., losing the ability to join mod teams in the future.

Lastly, if you suddenly begin to post, or approve content that features sexually explicit content to your community in order to justify the NSFW label, we will immediately remove and permanently suspend moderators who have participated in this action.

Moderators of r/PICS and r/military have since removed their NSFW flags. Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit moderators have not yet backed down, and say they’ll retreat to a secondary subreddit, r/LowSodiumCyberpunk, should the main channel face closure or action against its moderators.

Reddit does not run advertising on subreddits with the NSFW designation. Those adults-only subreddits also require users to log in to a Reddit account or attest that they are at least 18 years old.

Polygon has reached out to Reddit for comment on the Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit protest and will update this story when the company responds.