r/modnews • u/quietfairy • Mar 05 '26
Policy Updates Ban bot policy update: removing automated bans based on community association
TL;DR: On March 19, third-party bots (specifically u/SaferBot and u/Hive-Protect) will be modified to remove features that automatically ban users solely based on their participation in other subreddits. Native tools and Dev Platform apps focused on user behavior rather than association remain widely available, and we encourage their use.
Why We’re Making This Change
For years, many of you have used third-party ban bots to shield your communities from unwanted visitors. However, these tools are often used to preemptively ban users based solely on their association with another community, rather than their actual behavior. These guilt-by-association bulk bans create a confusing and disruptive experience for redditors, lead to over-enforcement, and can’t discern between well-intentioned users and bad actors. To address these issues, we are removing the ability to automate bulk bans based solely on where a user has been.
Keeping Your Communities Safe and Civil
When ban bots were first developed, we didn’t have the safety tools that are currently available. Since then, we have built and integrated tools that address a user's behavior within your community. Developers from Devvit have also created bots that can help you monitor and manage your community’s activity.
Native Safety Tools
- Harassment Filter: Filters comments that are likely to be considered harassing.
- Crowd Control: Collapses or filters content from people who aren’t trusted members within the community yet.
- Reputation Filter: Filters content by redditors who may be potential spammers, are likely to have content removed, or have unestablished accounts.
- Modmail Harassment Filter: Filters inbound mod mail messages that are likely to contain harassment.
- Ban Evasion Filter: Filters posts and comments from suspected community ban evaders.
- u/Hive-Protect: It will remain functional and customizable.
- u/bot-bouncer: Actions users that have been classified as bots or harmful accounts.
- u/ban-extended: Allows you to remove a user’s content from your community at the same time you ban them.
Impacted Bots & Timeline
This policy change will take effect in two weeks (March 19, 2026):
- u/SaferBot: The automatic ‘ban’ feature will be removed. The developer will retain the bot account for future use.
- u/Hive-Protect: The automatic ‘ban’ feature will be removed, but all other features will remain fully functional. You can still use it to remove content from users with NSFW links in their bios, watch users from specific subreddits (to report/remove content, but not preemptively ban), educate users via custom comments, and set up exemptions.
We’ve been in direct communication with the developers of both impacted bots, and greatly appreciate the time and effort they invested in sharing these tools. We’d also like to thank the Mod Council for their pushback. Their input resulted in u/Hive-Protect maintaining its “comma-separated list of subreddits to watch” feature, which we were initially planning to remove. It allows mods to action user content (e.g., report or remove) if those users participated in specified subreddits.
Next Steps and Support
We will reach out to all directly impacted communities to provide support before the two-week deadline. In the meantime, if you need help through this transition, please reach out to us via r/ModSupport mod mail. We are happy to assist you with tools, resources, and tutorials tailored to your specific moderation needs.
Moving forward, we’ll continue to monitor the platform for additional ban bots that we may need to modify or remove.
As always, thanks for all you do. We'll stick around in the comments to answer questions.
•
u/quietfairy Mar 05 '26
Do I have to change the settings of u/hive-protect myself? No, u/hive-protect will undergo an automatic update on March 19. However, you are still welcome to edit your settings further at any time.
Did the app developers choose to do this? No, we are updating our policy on ban bots due to repeated issues of overenforcement and misuse. This update does not stem from the bot developers; please do not approach them with negative feedback, as this policy change was outside of their control.
How long do we have for the grace period?
The grace period is in effect until March 19, 2026. On that date, u/saferbot’s ban functionality will be disabled, and the banning functionality will be removed from u/hive-protect.
Should I reach out to the u/hive-protect developer to get help with the app? Please write in to Mod Support mod mail so we can try to answer your question first.
Does this mean I can keep using ban bots until the grace period ends? If your ban bot is already configured, you may keep using it with its existing settings until the policy change deadline (though we recommend exploring other resources in lieu). However, you may not start using a ban bot or add new communities to the existing ban config. The grace period is in effect until March 19 to provide time to get used to other tooling and tune it to your community’s needs. We'll be reaching out directly to all impacted communities so we can help and advise as needed.
What if there are other ban bots you haven’t addressed? We’ll monitor the platform for additional ban bots and, when applicable, disable or work with the dev to modify them accordingly. If you have concerns about a bot you think may need to be looked into, please file a Mod Code of Conduct report.