The thread is thought to have contained racist and misogynistic slurs

Move stops people stumbling across offensive material within the forum

by administrators on 12 May

It is a site known for open discussion and debate, but Reddit has now been accused of censorship.

The popular website and forum is said to have quarantined a subreddit – a forum dedicated to a particular topic - named 'European'.

It has been reported that the forum contained content which caused offence, including racist slurs.

The popular website and forum, Reddit, is said to have quarantined a subreddit – a forum dedicated to a particular topic - named 'European'

A note on the subreddit link says: 'The administration has decided to censor free speech for Europeans and they quarantined the subreddit on the 12th of May 2016.'

Now, prospective users have to be invited to the community. The forum has also moved to another online forum named Voat.

There, the discussion seems to be continuing and the thread contains racist and misogynistic comments, many of which are directed at immigrants.

One particularly shocking one appears to condone the rape of children.

Reddit told MailOnline: 'Reddit is a community where passionate and authentic conversations take place.

'A subreddit is quarantined when there are concerns that its content is extreme and could be offensive to people outside of that community.

It toldFox News that the 'European' group violated its content policy.

'Quarantines on Reddit are rare - there are thousands of vibrant conversations flourishing on the site every day,' it said.

A note on the subreddit link (shown above) says: 'The administration has decided to censor free speech for Europeans and they quarantined the subreddit on the 12th of May 2016

'Subreddits are quarantined only when the content is clearly offensive to the broader Reddit community.'

WHAT IS BANNED ON REDDIT? Reddit has been accused of censorship by some users. It updated its set of guidelines last year. The site bans illegal content, spam, the publication of private information, sexual and violent content. Advertisement

The practice is intended to stop anyone accidently coming across potentially offensive groups.

Reddit said: 'The quarantine process doesn't end the conversation - it adds an opt-in measure so that people have the choice to join the conversation.'

Those who choose to join have to hand over and verifiable email address, among other measures.

Reddit has been accused of censorship by some users. It updated its set of guidelines last year.

The site bans illegal content, spam, the publication of private information, sexual and violent content.

A blogger who goes by the name of Curious Gnu recently analysed a dataset of 4.6 million comments posted on Reddit, said 78 per cent of threads with more than 1,000 comments mention Hitler or the Nazi party.