Documentation of Lemmy.ml's Extremism [Megathread]
2025-22-08: Due to a (suspected .ml) troll spamming the comment section, you'll now need to sort the comments by "Top" to see the actual comments from users on this post.
Good job everyone blocking and boycotting .ml! It's having an effect, users are noticing and MAUs on their comms are falling!
And for anyone asking "Why are we boycotting/blocking lemmy.ml?" Here's a quick recap:
Lemmy.ml is an instance run by admins who are hardcore tankies and will enforce their ideology on their instance through various means from allowing (and pushing it themselves) propaganda (Such as Russia being justified in some way to invade Ukraine) and known propaganda outlets (Like RT) to removing content on their instance critical of their favored authoritarian regimes such as Russia or China and even banning users for such speech or speech critical of them if it's off their instance (Just like the Reddit mods of ol!).
If it was just some random instance it would have been defederated from long ago like the rest of the "Tankie Triad" (Hexbear and Lemmygrad), but they've positioned lemmy.ml as the "flagship" instance and abused that position and influence to become large enough to keep other instances from defederating from them.
Which I believe is harmful to the Lemmy-verse's overall growth and outside reputation. I have seen it come up before on Reddit threads (and other testimonials from people who came back and tried it again) that "They tried Lemmy but it was a bunch of tankies and went back to Reddit"
I don't know about you, but I'd prefer Lemmy to not end up with the reputation for being "Tankie Central " or even worse "Voat 2.0".
So if you haven't joined the boycott yet, join today and help us foster a better healthier Lemmy-verse!
You can take a look around here on [email protected] for documentation of it or checkout this list of curated documentation
Noteworthy Selection
Full collection list at the end
Dessalines - Head .ml admin - Head Lemmy Dev
"Slava Ukraini" is considered a "Fascist slogan" - https://lemmy.world/post/36065538
"NK is actually good, and anything counter to that is Western LIES" - https://lemmy.world/post/31595035
"The BBC is not a credible news source" - https://lemmy.world/post/35824465
Showing support for Ukraine on .ml is worthy of a site ban - https://lemmy.world/post/32775563
Open declaration of support for Russia - https://lemmy.world/post/27352415
"Don't worry guys, the Uyghur Genocide was REALLY just birth control! - https://lemmy.world/post/30580167
Censoring criticism of China while allowing fellow "in-crowd" user "concentration camps were just reeducation camps and weren't that bad" misinfo to remain - https://lemmy.world/post/26985447
Censoring when users call out propaganda - https://lemmy.world/post/32776038 | https://lemmy.world/post/33416433 | https://lemmy.world/post/34051329 | https://lemmy.world/post/35919522
Discussing winnie the pooh and/or the negatives of china is a 30 day ban - https://lemmy.world/post/35374967
Davel - .ml admin
Spreading anti-ukraine Russian propaganda - https://lemmy.world/post/34655572
General negative sentiment to other instances who haven't "seen the way" yet - https://lemmy.world/post/27426510
"See! nobody died IN Tiananmen Square, just AROUND it, so it doesn't count!!" - https://lemmy.world/post/30673342
Response to a valid report of "NK is actually good" as propaganda/misinfo https://lemmy.world/post/32627834
Removal of a credible article that was on the Uyghur genocide - https://lemmy.world/post/33205310
It's totally fine when Russia kills woman and children, war is war after all - https://lemmy.world/post/33224299
Nutomic - 2nd in command Lemmy Dev
Their continued transphobia - https://lemmy.world/post/29222558
General Tankie user behaviour
"Propaganda is good actually" - https://lemmy.world/post/36162233
"The China censorship tool isnt actually censorship! And if it is, it's actually a good thing a state has that much power!" https://lemmy.world/post/30010789
Rooting for Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war https://lemmy.world/post/29274763
Spreading Russia talking points like the Ukraine invasion just being a "negotiating tactic" https://lemmy.world/post/27012640
Biden is worse than Trump - https://lemmy.world/post/33631617
Uyghur Genocide denialism - https://lemmy.world/post/33873969
Full Collection
::: spoiler Evidence of bans, censorship and bias to push their 'ideology'
https://lemmy.world/post/34395059
https://lemmy.world/post/32720369
https://lemmy.world/post/32298242
https://lemmy.world/post/32471440
https://lemmy.world/post/35919522
https://lemmy.world/post/32292143
https://lemmy.world/post/35254858
https://lemmy.world/post/32222856
https://lemmy.world/post/32426343
https://lemmy.world/post/32058315
https://lemmy.world/post/35919814
https://lemmy.world/post/32775892
https://lemmy.world/post/33554899
https://lemmy.world/post/33194656
https://lemmy.world/post/34502019
https://lemmy.world/post/34502777
https://lemmy.world/post/34503244
https://lemmy.world/post/35919218
https://lemmy.world/post/36120253
https://lemmy.world/post/36120386
https://lemmy.world/post/32825174
https://lemmy.world/post/32426884
https://lemmy.world/post/32191006
https://lemmy.world/post/32720652
https://lemmy.world/post/32676095
https://lemmy.world/post/32298242
https://lemmy.world/post/32292143
https://lemmy.world/post/32221990
https://lemmy.world/post/32222278
https://lemmy.world/post/32222991
https://lemmy.world/post/32223697
https://lemmy.world/post/32224698
https://lemmy.world/post/32425984
https://lemmy.world/post/31569892
https://lemmy.world/post/31368129
https://lemmy.world/post/31329952
https://lemmy.world/post/31596159
https://lemmy.world/post/30665418
https://lemmy.world/post/30876228
https://lemmy.world/post/31090903
https://lemmy.world/post/31329952
https://lemmy.world/post/31368129
https://lemmy.world/post/29490804
https://lemmy.world/post/29507466
https://lemmy.world/post/29878102
https://lemmy.world/post/29980157
https://lemmy.world/post/28480760
https://lemmy.world/post/28481615
https://lemmy.world/post/28482147
https://lemmy.world/post/28480936
https://lemmy.world/post/28482273
https://lemmy.world/post/28481272
https://lemmy.world/post/28481064
https://lemmy.world/post/27674360
https://lemmy.world/post/27674117
https://lemmy.world/post/27673934
https://lemmy.world/post/27673724
https://lemmy.world/post/27577337
https://lemmy.world/post/27378634
https://lemmy.world/post/27346630
https://lemmy.world/post/27341283
https://lemmy.world/post/27288224
https://lemmy.world/post/27156418
https://lemmy.world/post/27054157
https://lemmy.world/post/27008261 :::
::: spoiler Allowing known propaganda outlets, altered headlines and general misinfo tactics
https://lemmy.world/post/32764202
https://lemmy.world/post/32323822
https://lemmy.world/post/32283425
https://lemmy.world/post/32289824
https://lemmy.world/post/32337368
https://lemmy.world/post/30843744
https://lemmy.world/post/28275465
https://lemmy.world/post/27428838
https://lemmy.world/post/27416097
https://lemmy.world/post/27314050
https://lemmy.world/post/27288953 :::
Why am I cross-posting .ml content? And account listing used for it
::: spoiler Why am I cross-posting .ml content?
I cross-post from .ml to the nearest relevant non-.ml comm to reduce the influence of .ml comms and indirectly, the instance as a whole, to help vitilize non-.ml comms and make it an easier decision for other instance admins to defederate because one key reason I identified that admins don't want to defederate is because .ml still has some very large comms and some active niche comms.
Some highlights from the link:
.ml admin, Nutomics continued transphobia https://lemmy.world/post/29222558 The original transphobic Comment from Nutomic: https://lemmy.world/post/18236068
"If you don't support Russia then you just don't understand geopolitics" ~dessalines, .ml admin, dev https://lemmy.world/post/27352415
"Don't worry guys, the Uyghur Genocide was REALLY just birth control! ~dessalines, .ml admin, dev https://lemmy.world/post/30580167
"See! nobody died IN Tiananmen Square, just AROUND it, so it doesn't count!!" ~ Davel, .ml admin https://lemmy.world/post/30673342
"NK is actually good and anything counter to that is Western propaganda!" ~dessalines, .ml admin, dev https://lemmy.world/post/31595035
General negative sentiment to other instances who haven't "seen the way" yet ~davel, .ml admin https://lemmy.world/post/27426510
And so so much documentation on clear heavy handed censorship and bias also on the link. So much I can't even put them all here because this comment would be really long.
I believe the behavior of its admins (the main admins are Lemmy devs) does harm to the overall growth of the Lemmy-verse and maybe even the Thrediverse (since Lemmy kinda kicked off the Thrediverse) because of its association with the devs of Lemmy and their insistence to use .ml as their personal political platform to spread harmful propaganda
On the outside, bringing up Lemmy frequently leads to comments like "Lemmy? Isn't that the place with a bunch of tankies?" Or "Tried Lemmy, but found it full of pro Russia crap so I left". The best way forward from that I see is to either widely defederate from .ml like the rest of the Triad, or pressure them to put a fair and unbiased as possible admin team. :::
::: spoiler cm0002 account listing used for crossposting Here I'll list all the accounts that I use for this crossposting or hybrid organic/cross-posting.
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
:::
Update 6/1/2025 - adding additional links since original post
Update 6/14/2025 - adding additional links since last edit
Update 6/19/2025 - adding additional links since last edit
Update 6/30/2025 - adding additional links since last edit
Update 7/03/2025 - adding additional links since last edit/formatting changes
Update 7/09/2025 - adding additional links since last edit
Update 8/13/2025 - adding additional links since last edit/formatting changes
Update 9/20/2025 - adding additional links since last edit
*Update 2/11/2026 - adding "why am I cross-posting.ml" and user account listing blocks
Every time a ml/hexbear community that I might be interested in pops up on my feed, I block it, then manually search for a non-tankie version of the same thing and immediately subscribe. The amount of pro-authoritarian content I've been exposed to has dramatically dropped.
In a recent discussion in the Matrix chat, it was mentioned that donations to support development have recently fallen off quite steeply. I mentioned my reason for not donating anymore is because I can't support anyone who runs an instance like .ml. @[email protected] said I could donate directly to him since he doesn't do as much moderation over there, but also mentioned that donations for development go towards server costs for .ml. Hell no.
cause nobody wants to get dragged into a ten page discussion about why China and Russia are the most democratic countries in the world
I got banned to 40 days from .ml memes for arguing that the republicans were worse than the democrats or something mild like that.
I actually like seeing their posts on my main account. It allows me to keep up with their lingua franca, so I can more easily identify their alts on normal instances, so I know not to attempt to engage in good faith.
Lemmy .ml is partly why I switched to an instance which defederates them. The admin and mod behavior over there is gross. If it weren't run by the Lemmy devs it would be widely blocked.
I think the whole "saying anything different from what we like? You're banned" thing is also playing a good part.
Lemmy.ml seems to just downvote different opinions in masse without responding with respect.
After a few attempts to engage respectfully and just getting negative interactions I just blocked them entirely.
I joined Lemmy in November. By New Years I had independently figured out what was wrong with .ml and its users.
The less of that garbage, the better.
You know, the differing opinion isn't so bad. It's that they're such pricks.
Yeah, blocked hexbear too.
Those people are absolutely fucking unhinged and do not engage in any sort of good faith argument.
After one round, I got name called, after round two asking for clarification, I just left.
Time is precious, the squirrels in my yard are more coherent than these chucklefucks.
Hell, even two crows would be better
I tried to tolerate .ml because they've got some good linux and foss focused communities. Ultimately I decided it wasn't worth it.
could you pls put the exclamation marks on the links to those posts in the same way you did for ![email protected] ?
thanks for this concise list of stuff .ml has done btw
I was against blocking them because i dont want to create an echochamber(and i still support this on an instance level) but after they banned me and just keep downvote bombing anyone whos not a fucking poo tin or whinnie boot licker i had to block them.
"Known propaganda outlets (like RT)"
Sorry but... What's RT mean in this context? Rooster Teeth? I've got no clue.
I appreciate this. Id been gone from Lemmy for a bit but just unsubbed from all the .ml groups I had.
I wish feddit.org blocked lemmy.ml. I keep getting vitriol and queerphobia from their users.
so thats why ive been seeing so much communist propaganda lately
I'm kinda still new here, so thanks for the info! I think I've figured out how to block the instance, but is there a guide on blocking or something or a way to check?
I'm on Mbin and started on Kbin, so I've tied my cart to a sequence of single devs. But, are there any Lemmy devs who aren't connected to ML?
Thanks for the recap. I kinda get the instance federation stuff, but not fully. I realize they are flagship or whatever, but it aint like its that big a ship, even on the biggest one. Is there any consideration of defederating them now?
I just block every site and user with that ending that I see. I've been banned on almost any of their sites anyway.
Yay another thread where .ml users will post so I can block them!
Hopefully we can grow up as a community and defederate completely one day!
i found out earlier how to block instances like hexbear and ml.
Switching accounts will result in the same for many of these grubworms, as they will simply be blocked at the individual level when they start saying shit that nobody wants to hear.
Thanks for the heads up, just added to my block list.
Thanks for the recap!
Anyone wanna remind me how to block an entire instance? I’m on Fedia, if that matters.
I've had them muted on Boost for a while, haven't missed 'em XD
Like it or not, we can shine a light and hope they see.
I am as libertarian (as opposed to authoritarian) as they come, and I still hope I (and others who share my sentiment) will be able to convince them the merits of a world with human rights, diplomacy, and freedom — that is not needlessly violent and forceful.
We can move past barbarism, but to do so we must define what comes next to those who have shut their hearts to the truth — especially to those who have spent arguably too much time reliving the horrific violence of the 20th century.
I don't need to boycott them, I don't feel the need to block them. Everybody is within their rights to do so though, but I will keep slowly trying to win them over to the idea of a more kind and free world.
Creating Lemmy and the fediverse is of incredible value to humanity. They provided a timely medicine to the internet — a decentralized platform that is not controlled by an American corporation and ruled by algorithms. I don't feel like it's a lost cause to do my best.
This just made me realise my feed is just that bit cleaner and there's so much less news, it's actually quite calming.
@[email protected] do you think this thread would make a good candidate for a sticky?
I'm updating this fairly frequently as my megathread now LMAO
The FIRST thing I did when I set up my piefed instance was defederate all of the tankie triad
I always go in and argue with those Tankie fucks when I have time, but I haven't even seen them in the feeds lately.
Was just banned from memes.ml and shamed for "throwing Palestine under the bus" (I voted for Kamala) in order to "save myself" (Was voting against Trump's anti Trans stance)
Fuck lemmy.ml
The behavior of the head lemmy dev makes me regret migrating to lemmy on any instance, and makes me think I should seek something else entirely until a hard fork is adopted by mutiple large instances. I don't want even steps association removed with such people.
@[email protected]
What’s the easiest way for me to block and hide it?
Concerning
They routinely dogpile on users to try and get them banned if an argument doesn't go their way.
My rebuttal to this post: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45909409