I originally posted this as a comment, but upon further thought I believe that this deserves to be a post all it's own. People here, and as a whole, need to understand what we are working against and how far reaching it truly is A warning though, there is a lot of information here and it's a lot to process, but in order to gain a full understanding of the scope of this problem one must look at all aspects of it.

This is not about /r/The_Donald or PizzaGate, though both of those fit into the bigger picture of a much larger whole. This is about the collection and control of massive amounts of data and the subversion and manipulation of the public at large. This is about numbing people down to the point of acceptance of these types of operations and procedures under the precedent of "fake news, propaganda, conspiracy, etc". This is about getting people to the point of thinking that this type of thing is okay, as silencing the few, is accepted as an appropriate step in order to ensure the safety and civility of the general public. This is about the distribution of services and systems to ensure this control and subversion though the means of controlling any and all narratives, thus controlling the flow and allowance of information. This is bigger then any one thing and something we should all be concerned about and fighting against.

For more information regarding the Pizzagate situation as well as the issue of editing comments by u/Spez please see here, here, and here

With that being said:

Do not kid yourselves, this is not unique to reddit. This is, and has been happening, all over the web for some time now.

Its not overt. They are not mass editing comments or things of that nature generally, its much more covert and subtle.

The difference here is someone, for whatever reason (I imagine will be discussing the true whys of this for some time honestly) , decided to out themselves and their behavior this time. Thus shining a very bright and unavoidable light onto it.

What should scare people is that it may not be frustration that motivated this, as claimed, so much as a complete belief that at this stage in the game it no longer matters if we as users, and the public as a whole, know. And the implications of that are rather terrifying.

The best advice I can give, and which I think all should strive for going forward if you were not already, is don't be pushed down by this, speak up and keep it public, keep pressure on the nerve and continue digging. At the same time though you have to face the very real reality that you are playing with a deck stacked in the houses favor. They have the upper hand, you must always remember you are playing at a disadvantage. You are not anonymous. Remember everything you are saying is being cataloged and correlated into a collection of data that represents you (think an extremely detailed Facebook page, for lac of a better description, that the government has access to with every bit off information you've ever had online, in your phone, or on your computer) and is being collected and broadened every single day.

For more information I recommend reading the following:

The Global Surveillance Disclosure

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29?wprov=sfla1

The NSA ANT Catalog - A list of known tools and technology used by the NSA, GCHQ, and others. IF YOU READ NO OTHER ARTICLE AT LEAST READ THIS, it is the most important for recognizing the scope that this and the capabilities that the public is working against.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog?wprov=sfla1

The UKUSA Agreement - also known as The Five Eyes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement?wprov=sfla1

The MUSCULAR Surveillance Program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUSCULAR_%28surveillance_program%29?wprov=sfla1

KARMA POLICE - Surveillance and Database Collection Program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_Police_%28surveillance_program%29?wprov=sfla1

TEMPORA - UK Bulk Data Collection Program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempora?wprov=sfla1

PRISM - NSA Bulk Data Collection Program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_%28surveillance_program%29?wprov=sfla1

ECHELON - Part of the Five Eyes bulk data collection program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON?wprov=sfla1

GCHQ Appendix - A list of known GCHQ operations via The Intercept

https://theintercept.com/gchq-appendix/

BT and Vodafone implicated in passing data to GCHQ via The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/02/telecoms-bt-vodafone-cables-gchq

AT&T Implicated in NSA collusion via NYT (far from the first time, AT&T is most likely then single largest source for bulk data collection as they are literally tapped directly into their fiber cables at the origin point).

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/us/politics/att-helped-nsa-spy-on-an-array-of-internet-traffic.html?_r=0

Edward Snowden Explains How to Reclaim Your Privacy - Pretty straight forward article form The Intercept explaining what you can do to keep yourself more secure.

https://theintercept.com/2015/11/12/edward-snowden-explains-how-to-reclaim-your-privacy/

The Fisa Court - For those wondering how this is "legal" in the first place this is how.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Court

Information on the Utah Data Center

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center

Recent relevations regarding NSA data center in NY hiding in plain site, via The Intercept; codenamed Titanpointe

https://theintercept.com/2016/11/16/the-nsas-spy-hub-in-new-york-hidden-in-plain-sight/

For something more sinister - The Heart of America's Drone War emanating out of Ramstein, Germany. Courtesy of The Intercept once more.

https://theintercept.com/2015/04/17/ramstein/

Room 614A - telecomunications interception operation via AT&T and the NSA. First outed in 2006 to sadly little fanfare in relation to what the operation entailed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A

The Snowden Archives - The NSA Signals Intellligence Directorate's newsletter archives. A lot of very technical and often times difficult to understand information but very important to getting an idea of how the entireties of these projects work and the way in which those interntally view such things.

https://theintercept.com/snowden-sidtoday/

The 147 Companies Who Control Everything - Created by three system theorist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich this complicated and descrptive overview shows how the true control of coporations control almost everything radiating out from the middle. Both an article about such via Forbes and the PDF itself.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2011/10/22/the-147-companies-that-control-everything/#18c106eb7638

https://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1107/1107.5728v2.pdf

Who Controls 90% of the Media in America - An interesting infographic and article from Business Insider detailing how 6 companies control most of the information we receive.

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6

What's important to remember here is that almost all of these leaks, and information is for the most part years old at this point. This is what they were, and are still using. Do not kid yourself there is even more now, and the data collection programs are ever expanding and increasing in their reach and scope. More importantly this is not unique to just the government, corporations are engaging in this type of behavior as well, as information is power first and foremost. Protect yourselves and be ever vigilant even in the face of overwhelming power.

Do not be silenced, do not be ignored, and do not believe the greatest propaganda of all, that you "have nothing to hide".

Edit (my own not Reddits ) - for grammar and to add a bit more depth to the overall point of this post/discussion.

Edit 2: Added a bit more links to more information regarding the overall scope of this problem. Links regarding NSA, Google collecting of data, Apple, Telecoms, as well as the increase in scope of the collection, specifically within the UK (GCHQ).

Edit 3: Adding more information for the purposes of documentation and enabling a better understanding of the situation as a whole.