Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian on Friday resigned from the social community agency’s board and sought to get replaced by a black candidate.
Following Ohanian’s submit on Reddit, the corporate’s Chief Government Steve Huffman stated the corporate would “honor” his request and is working to strengthen its content material coverage to fight racist speech on its platform.
Ohanian’s choice to step down comes at a time when the USA is witnessing widespread protests in opposition to racism and police brutality after an unarmed African American, George Floyd, died by the hands of the police.
Viral picture with grim racial abuse historical past resurfaces on social media
His dying has reignited debates over range in America’s company boardrooms and content material moderation practices on social media.
Huffman wrote in a submit right here on the location that “the unacceptable gap” between Reddit’s content material coverage and values has decreased the corporate’s effectiveness in combating hate and racism and slowed down its response to issues.
“This current policy lists only what you cannot do articulates none of the values behind the rules, and does not explicitly take a stance on hate or racism.”
Twitter disables Trump video tribute to Floyd over copyright criticism
Huffman additionally stated Reddit ought to have moved sooner to limit entry to r/The_Donald, a significant discussion board for supporters of US President Donald Trump that Reddit ‘quarantined’ final 12 months citing threats of violence in opposition to police and public officers.
Earlier within the week, former CEO Ellen Pao criticised Reddit when Huffman wrote a letter to workers in response to the protests. She tweeted that Reddit ought to have shutdown the discussion board slightly than amplifying “hate, racism, and violence”.
A number of Republican lawmakers wrote to Huffman final week criticizing what they referred to as his censorship of the r/The_Donald.
Web entrepreneur Ohanian, who’s married to American tennis participant Serena Williams, additionally pledged $1 million to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp, a marketing campaign for authorized consciousness amongst youth.
