Reddit has "declined to assist in any dialogue" in relation to Plymouth gunman Jake Davison's account a pre-inquest review heard. The online forum company told Devon and Cornwall police that if it wants information from their sever regarding the user they would have to go through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) route.
Jake Davison's Reddit account was suspended the day before he carried out the fatal shootings in Keyham, Plymouth, which claimed the lives of five people. Mr Jason Beer QC, who will be representing Devon and Cornwall Police at the inquest told people gathered online at yesterday's hearing that a number of ongoing criminal investigations into the victims' deaths were being carried out on behalf of the coroner.
Mr Beer QC said that one of the lines of enquiry was Reddit and that reviews of Jake Davison's computer and mobile noted he was an "active member of Reddit forums", that a number of them were incel-related, some were "pro-incel" and some were "anti-incel", reports Plymouth Live.
He explained that while police were able to secure some posts to some of these forums, it did so "against a backdrop" of Reddit "almost immediately" deleting Jake Davison's entire account following the shootings and his links to Reddit were publicly known. He said the force number of inquiries with Reddit about what data still existed on their servers.
He revealed that Reddit - based in US - had "declined to assist in any dialogue for the for the provision of that material and instead said if you want to get the material you need to do it under the treaty of Mutual Legal Assistance in criminal matters" [MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty)]. He added that Reddit had told Devon and Cornwall Police that the data protection of their users "is of particular importance to us and we therefore only disclose data to third parties if we can be sure that the request is based on a sufficient legal basis for mandatory disclosure - this is true even for users who may be deceased."
Mr Beer QC said that as a result the force had instructed the Crown Prosecution Service to formerly obtain the information they require under the MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty). According to a report by MelMagazine Davison - who went by the name Jake3572 on Reddit - was considered an active member on incel-related subreddits like r/inceltear, r/mensrights and r/virgin, where he created posts like: 'Why do women struggle so badly to sympathize and understand mens plights issues and problems in society and life but as men we can easily sympathize and understand womens issues and problems.'
He also actively added to non-incel-related subreddits with posts like: 'Nurse ratchet from one flew over the cuckoss nest is a prime example of what a lot of women would do to unappealing men emasculate them psychologically terrorise them play emotional games etc etc…'
The publication noted that a 16-year-old US girl had reported Davison for harassing her online. Having warned him about her age, she later posted a recording of her conversation with Davison to the subreddit r/IncelTear where she said she reported him to moderators who then banned him from the subreddit "and reported him to reddit admins".
A Reddit spokesperson previously told PlymouthLive that Davison's Reddit account was suspended on August 11, 2021 for a violation of its rules. This effectively turned his account into a 'read-and-edit-only' set up, meaning that his own comments could still be viewed by other members and that he could edit his previous comments, but he would have been unable to submit posts, comment, vote, create new subreddits, or send private messages.
At some point between August 12, 2021 and August 16, 2021 Davison's account was removed from the site and could no longer be viewed. At the time a Reddit spokesperson said: "We take these matters very seriously. Our investigation is ongoing" although no explanation of what Reddit was investigating has been given.
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