Reddit suspends accounts posting about missing Auburn student in Japan

Reddit has suspended accounts that were sharing information about a missing Auburn University student in Japan, where his family says the platform had become their main source of leads in the search.

The accounts had posted in Reddit communities including r/Kyoto and r/KyotoTravel as relatives and other users tried to spread information about James “Weston” Higginbotham, 20, an Auburn University student who has been missing since Friday while traveling in Japan with his family.

“Reddit has been my main lead source and they have just taken down my posts. I need help,” his mother Nancy Higginbotham wrote on Facebook.

Accounts including Exotic-Slip-464, just_the_patches and bhamblondebrowser now show suspension notices. When opening the profiles, Reddit also shows the accounts as banned, with public account data no longer accessible.

No reason for the suspensions was listed in the public notices, and it was not immediately clear whether the accounts were removed manually or through an automated enforcement action.

Higginbotham was last known to be in the Kyoto area, according to his mother. She said his last confirmed purchase was at a Kohnan hardware store, and his phone last showed activity on Friday evening.

He arrived at Kyoto Station at about 8:15 p.m. and his phone lost network connection 14 minutes later. His mother said he appeared to be on a local train heading east, possibly on the Biwako Line, also known as part of the Tokaido Main Line, or the Kosei Line.

Police later narrowed his last known location to Yamashina Station, east of central Kyoto. His mother said it was not known whether he got back on a train after arriving there.

Japanese police deployed 50 officers, K9s and helicopters on Wednesday to search heavily wooded terrain near Yamashina, according to his mother. The search began at 8 a.m. and continued through wet conditions and steep terrain.

By Wednesday night, authorities had not found him. Officers searched on foot while helicopters flew over wooded hills near Yamashina, and the search is expected to resume because of the size of the area.

The family thanked Japanese police, volunteers, the FBI, the U.S. Embassy, Alabama officials and others who have helped with the search.

Higginbotham is American, speaks English and may be emotionally distressed, his mother said. He is 6 feet 1 inch tall, with long blond hair and blue eyes, and was last seen wearing a shirt with “Save the Bees” and two bumblebees on the back, lavender corduroy pants and worn white Adidas shoes with black stripes. He was carrying a shoulder bag with the state of Alabama on it.

His mother asked anyone who sees him not to post his exact location publicly, but to call local police immediately and contact the family directly.