Controversies
2022 AI art controversy
In late 2022, the moderators of r/Art removed the artwork of Ben Moran, a Vietnam-based artist, and banned them from the subreddit, citing the artwork's resemblance to artificial intelligence art, which is disallowed on the forum. When Moran contacted the moderators to complain about the ban, the moderators stated: [11]
- I don't believe you. Even if you did "paint" it yourself, it's so obviously an AI-prompted design that it doesn't matter.
- If you really are a "serious" artist, then you need to find a different style, because A) no one is going to believe when you say it's not AI, and B) the AI can do better in seconds what might take you hours.
- Sorry, it's the way of the world.
Moran was then muted from messaging the subreddit moderators. As of January 7, 2023, they remain banned from the forum. [11] The subreddit moderators have stated that to "reverse course now... [would mean that] online trolls get to dictate the state of the community." [12] Visual artist Ron Cheng cited the incident as an example of modern illustrators being less able to create photorealistic work due to comparisons with AI art. [13]
2025 banning controversy
In late 2025, r/Art became the subject of widespread criticism following the banning of an artist named Hayden Clay Williams, known as Strawbear on Reddit. Williams had responded to another user’s comment expressing interest in his work by stating that prints were available. The comment was interpreted by a subreddit moderator, neodiogenes , as a violation of the community's prohibition on self-promotion, resulting in both the removal of the post and a ban on the artist. When Williams contacted the subreddit's moderators to inquire about the ban, they were reportedly met with dismissive responses and were subsequently blocked from further communication. neodiogenes then deleted every post Williams had made on the subreddit, effectively wiping their entire history on the forum. Community members accused moderators of disproportionate enforcement, hostile conduct, and a pattern of excessive moderation. The subreddit, then numbering over 22 million members, was temporarily locked, reopened in a restricted state allowing only comments by former moderator Quietuus, and then locked again. A statement later appeared on the subreddit posted from a now-deleted automated moderator account, ArtModBot2_0, announcing that the entire moderation team would "resign". [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
The announcement of resignation was widely misconstrued to have been made collectively by the moderators. [15] In reality, this post was made by the head mod who banned Williams, after personally removing each moderator from the forum. [17] [18] After a few days of inactivity, the subreddit recruited a new mod team to restore the community. [18]
