San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones speaks to reporters following a recent town hall meeting. Credit: Michael Karlis

A Reddit user this week accused moderators at the r/sanantonio Reddit page of censoring negative comments and posts about Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones.

The allegations of censorship come as Jones continues to push for a November citywide vote on the city’s $489 million contribution toward a new Spurs arena.

“I never even had a comment removed from there, but bam, just like that I can’t post in my city’s subreddit anymore,” the Reddit user told the Current. “There are comments in every post about her getting removed, although I have no way of knowing who else was banned.”

The user declined to be named out of fear of retaliation.

It’s also not the first time users of r/sanantonio have accused the moderators of censorship. In October, some on the page maintained that moderators scrubbed posts and articles reporting on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity around the Alamo City.

The r/sanantonio moderators didn’t immediately respond to the Current’s request for comment about the new allegations of censorship.

The user raising censorship concerns reached out to the Current to say page moderators deleted his comments critical of the mayor’s proposed arena vote. The person said they made the comment in question in a thread about District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran, who last week accused Jones of lying about the city’s agreement with the Spurs.

“This mayor seems whiny,” the Reddit user commented.

The thread shows that the page’s moderators deleted the user’s comment. The user also said they were also banned from accessing the r/sanantonio subreddit after their remark was taken down.

In correspondence with the Current, the Reddit user noted that while their comment was removed, another comment that said “this council seems whiny” was left up on the thread.

The alleged incident comes as Jones’ proposal to put the city’s arena contribution on the November ballot continues to garner backlash. Last week, Centro San Antonio CEO Trish DeBerry blasted Jones’ effort as “toxic.”

Jones has defended her proposal, arguing that although Bexar County voters approved raising the county’s Hotel Occupancy Tax last year, city voters haven’t received a separate chance to vote on how their tax money will be spent on the arena project.

“If you pay twice, folks should vote twice,” Jones said at a town hall last week.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...