- Trisha Paytas has rallied against the "H3 Podcast" subreddit, which they said is harassing them.
- With over half a million subscribers, the subreddit sees frequent posts about Paytas.
- The subreddit appears to be mostly moderated by the crew of the "H3 Podcast."
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Controversial YouTuber Trisha Paytas and their fiancé Moses Hacmon are facing intense scrutiny online as they're each facing their own scandals.
In a September 7 YouTube video, a user who goes by MYSTERIOUS accused Paytas of incorrectly stating that a previous teacher who they said molested them was arrested, while Hacmon was accused of "stealthing" (removing a condom during intercourse without consent) by women who say they are his previous partners. Paytas has since said she was given incorrect information, while Hacmon has denied the allegations.
While Paytas is used to criticism, they said it's going too far now, saying the subreddit dedicated to the "H3 Podcast" and its creators, YouTubers Ethan and Hila Klein, has launched a "hate campaign" against them.
Paytas said in tweets on Monday that the harassment they're facing "all starts" from the subreddit, which "they control and monitor," referring to the Kleins and their team.
The Kleins have not spoken publicly about who moderates the forum, but 3 former moderators of the subreddit, which has over half a million subscribers and over 145,000 comments, told Insider that moderators not affiliated with the "H3 Podcast" were replaced by employees of the podcast production company.
Paytas and Ethan co-hosted a spinoff of the "H3 Podcast" called "Frenemies" until they had a falling out in June. In a January 19 episode, Paytas leveled the allegations at her previous teacher. Klein unlisted the episode (made it unsearchable) following the revelation that public records appeared to indicate there was no arrest.
Here's what to know about the "H3" subreddit and Paytas' allegations about the community.
The H3H3Productions subreddit has been an integral part of the channel's brand
H3H3Productions, run by Hila and Ethan Klein, is a popular YouTube channel with 6.36 million subscribers that's been creating commentary videos since 2011 but has been dormant for one year as the Kleins focus on their podcast channel.
The H3H3Productions subreddit has been dedicated to chronicling drama around the Kleins, their H3H3Productions YouTube channel, and the "H3 Podcast" that they co-host. It has been a cornerstone of the Kleins' brand since they created the page in 2014, with the couple often doing recaps of content posted to the subreddit during their weekly podcast episodes.
Now, the subreddit, which was created for fans to discuss the Kleins' YouTube content, is mostly home to discussions about Paytas' drama with the Kleins.
According to subredditstats, a site that collects data about subreddits, "Trisha" is the second-most used keyword on the subreddit, next to "Frenemies," and there are dozens of posts about her on the subreddit. Posts calling Paytas "spineless," "evil," and "psycho" sit among others asking for talk about her to be banned from the subreddit entirely.
Since 2019, Ethan has posted on the subreddit three times and Hila only once. Though their involvement has slowed down, the subreddit remains more popular than ever.
The subreddit ballooned alongside the YouTube channel
The subreddit spent the first few years in relative obscurity, growing alongside the channel. At the start of 2015, the channel had around 115,000 YouTube subscribers according to trackalytics, which tracks social media statistics, and the subreddit had around 350 subscribers according to subredditstats. By the end of that year, their YouTube had over 600,000 subscribers and the subreddit sat around 30,000 subscribers.
At the time, Ethan would post regularly on the subreddit, replying to fans in comments and posting videos he uploaded.
Over the next few years, both the channel and subreddit would explode in popularity - by 2018 there were five million subscribers on YouTube and 400,000 on Reddit. The Kleins started to respond less to comments, mainly creating posts for questions that should be asked in their h3 podcast to guests.
Some of the moderators of the subreddit work for the Kleins
Reddit has strict moderator guidelines that require a "stable and active team of moderators" on every subreddit page. The company also has a content policy that prohibits "instigating harassment."
A moderator's job is to remove posts that are spam or clutter, ban users who aren't following the subreddit's rules, and communicate with the community to enforce a healthy dialogue.
Moderating a subreddit with half a million subscribers can itself be a full-time job. Some users have even asked for more moderation to remove duplicate and low-quality posts.
The H3H3Productions subreddit currently has eight moderators - two of which are inactive accounts - in addition to two bots combing through the hundreds of posts made every day. The other six moderators are listed on the subreddit's sidebar as Ethan, Hila, producer Dan Swerdlove, sound engineer Zach Louis, researcher AB Ayad, and editor Ian Slater.
In February 2018, the top moderator of the subreddit disappeared after accusations surfaced alleging that they asked for nude images in exchange for roles in the subreddit, according to the former subreddit moderators interviewed by Insider for this article. The links in the accusatory posts are currently all dead. That user hasn't posted on their account in three years but is still listed as moderator on the subreddit.
Former moderators of the subreddit said the Kleins' team has moderated the page for years
The size of the subreddit and the hassles of dealing with volunteer moderators started to pile up in 2018.
Joe Hullihan, who goes by the Reddit handle u/GurlinPantee*z, told Insider that he moderated the subreddit from early 2018 until early 2019 until he received a message on Reddit that his role was removed.
Swerdlove, the "H3 Podcast" producer, told Hullihan in a Reddit message reviewed by Insider that another moderator, JrdnRgrs, had "unbanned everyone, deleted a bunch of posts, and posted a bunch of trolling threads." Swerdlove said the team removed all moderators that they "don't know in real life to get control of the situation," the purported messages show.
JrdnRgrs, who asked that his real name be withheld for privacy reasons, told Insider that his Reddit account was "hacked" while he was on vacation, which caused him to lose his spot as a moderator. He echoed Hullihan's claim that all moderators not working for the podcast were removed.
JrdnRgrs said he believed the podcast team didn't have "any time to moderate" the subreddit, "which is pretty understandable, but they shouldn't have taken complete ownership over it if that is the case."
Another former moderator who worked on the subreddit through 2017, u/isonotlikethat, also said he believed the subreddit was moderated by the H3 team since then.
2 former moderators also said they had no interactions with Ethan or Hila during their tenure.
Hullihan did receive a message from Ethan, seen by Insider, five months before he was removed, thanking him for moderating the subreddit and saying that he "appreciates it."
The Kleins and the rest of the current moderators did not respond to requests for comment.
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