Reddit announced Wednesday it was banning several of the site's communities, known as subreddits, under a new anti-harassment policy led by interim CEO Ellen Pao.

"Our goal is to enable as many people as possible to have authentic conversations and share ideas and content on an open platform," the announcement from Pao and other site leaders said. "We want as little involvement as possible in managing these interactions but will be involved when needed to protect privacy and free expression, and to prevent harassment."

The statement noted the removal of five subreddits, most with no more than a few thousand subscribers. "Fat People Hate," however, had more than 150,000 subscribers. The group was the 230th largest subreddit based on subscribers at the time of its ban, according to redditmetrics.com.

The other subreddits banned were dedicated to transphobia, racism, harassing gamers, as well as another on fat-shaming.

The bans come almost a month after Reddit unveiled a new set of rules aimed at prohibiting harassment on the site, actions they defined as, "systematic and/or continued actions to torment or demean someone."

Redditors responded to Wednesday's announcement by asking for more clarification on how the policy would be enforced.

"Is there going to be transparency as to how subreddits are determined to be harrasing? [sic]," wrote SilvanestitheErudite.

Some argued that Reddit was being selective of which communities to expunge, ignoring the racist subreddit Coontown, which has more than 10,000 subscribers.

"We're banning behavior, not ideas," Pao explained in a subsequent comment on the site. "While we don't agree with the content of the subreddit, we don't have reports of it harassing individuals."