> authoritarian

>downvoted out

Erm...

Russia has elections, where people overwhelmingly vote for Putin..

So you are alleging that Reddit manipulates vote totals to affirm their biases? There's plenty wrong with Reddit, but I haven't seen any credible evidence that this is the case.

No, I'm saying nothing of the sort. Look at the context to which i replied.

Pretty sure OP means liberal in the sense of "classical liberalism". Ideas like free market, rule of law, private property, etc.

I’m using the word liberal to mean things like liberty, individual rights, democracy, and the rule of law. That’s why I also mentioned hard left authoritarianism.

Also there’s a world of difference between people registering dislike on an online forum and the use of state power. It seems like a lot of people these days draw no distinction between removal from a private space or even people just showing disapproval and actual state force.

This doesn't surprise me much; social networks have worked in tandem with governments, allowing them to call the shots to remove any content that opposed their political agendas, narratives, and opinions, to the extent that facts were flat-out censored to paint certain political opponents in a bad light, or worse, create potential legal issues.

It created a world where: when disapproval inside an echo-chamber fails to a critical mass of people telling the truth, just pretend the content doesn't exist and then gaslight people using official media outlets, including Congress and the White House.

So it gave people the impression there's no difference between the two. Not only were disapproval and state force in agreement, they colluded.

You’re confusing democracy with tyranny.

You're assuming mutual exclusion. Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner.

we’re people, not fairytale beasts

While your point (about the potential for liberal authoritarianism) is true, reddit is an example of partisan, not authoritarian, behavior.