Reddit deplatforming and cohort mixing in generalist Voat communities

Deplatforming, the permanent banning of entire communities, is a common tool for content moderation on mainstream platforms. Prior research largely examines banned communities and source-platform health, leaving receiving platforms less understood. We analyze four major Reddit community bans from 2015 to 2020 and their relationship to six generalist communities on Voat, asking how users appearing on Voat after these bans are associated with community structure and toxicity. Combining network analysis, ToxiGen classifier probabilities, and dynamic reputation modeling, we document distinct trajectories in cohort mixing, structural representation, toxicity, and repeated participation across Voat’s generalist communities. Breakpoint analyses provide the clearest evidence around the GreatAwakening period in the E-I index, while mean ToxiGen classifier probability rose from approximately 0.12 in late 2015 to above 0.24 by mid-2018 and then remained elevated. Fixed-cohort results show that high-activity arrivals were more likely than average arrivals to become structurally central, and survival analyses indicate longer persistence among high early-toxicity users in earlier post-ban cohorts. These findings identify receiving-platform changes that coincided with source-platform moderation.