With so many interesting communities and different types of people on Reddit.com, there are also some very controversial groups.

What is Reddit? A site based on user submitted content, Reddit’s user base has expanded exponentially since it was created in 2005. Reddit was a main force in preventing the SOPA and PIPA acts from being passed earlier this year. 

The last update regarding statistics on the Reddit staff blog said that in Dec. 2011, the site received over 34,879,881 unique page views spread out among 8,400 main communities. 

A typical front page can be a mixture of content about science, comedy, politics, video games, and interesting pictures that site users share. 

However, one of the smaller communities, “Jailbait,” was a major cause for concern earlier this month.

The “Jailbait” section of the site was made by a user, not a representative of Reddit, just like any other community on the site. 

The small community started as an unregulated community to upload sketchy photos of young women who look underage. 

When the site was called out by journalist Anderson Cooper, Reddit staff members defended the site, not the inappropriate content, for the sake of free speech. 

After some Reddit users started circulating child porn, the site staff stepped in and closed the entire community down permanently.

If you visit the now-closed webpage, this message can be read under the banned community notification: “This sub-Reddit has been shut down due to threatening the structural integrity of the greater Reddit community.”

Another controversial community was called “Creepshots.” Users would take pictures of women without their consent and upload them to the page. 

This community was permanently banned and closed in early October. The site then re-emerged with the alias of “Cshots,” and was banned again. The forum was re-launched under a second alias and is still up and running.

It is unclear if this community has become another hub for the circulation of illegal content.

With only around 3,000 members, the controversial community makes up a very small fraction of the overall population.

When things become illegal, it’s time to abide by the law, but is free speech more important than censorship? This Reddit blunder exposes another problem in the debate over internet censorship and regulation. Thus far, Reddit has done the right thing by closing communities that could potentially harm women and underage girls.