Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has resigned from the board of the social networking company.
On Friday, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian resigned from the board of the social networking company and sought to be replaced by a black candidate.
After Ohanian’s post on Reddit, company CEO Steve Huffman said the company would “honor” his request and is working to tighten up its content policy to combat racist rhetoric on its platform.
Ohanian’s decision to resign comes at a time when the United States is witnessing widespread protests against racism and police brutality after the death of unarmed African American man, George Floyd, at the hands of the police.
His death rekindled debates over diversity on the boards of American companies and moderation practices for social media content.
Huffman wrote in an article on the site that “the unacceptable gap” between Reddit’s policy and content values has reduced the company’s effectiveness in combating hatred and racism and has slowed its response to problems.
“This current policy only lists what you cannot do, does not state any of the values behind the rules, and does not take an explicit stand against hatred or racism.”
Huffman also said that Reddit should have acted sooner to restrict access to r / The_Donald, a major forum for supporters of US President Donald Trump that Reddit “ quarantined ” last year on threats violence against the police and public officials.
Earlier in the week, former CEO Ellen Pao criticized Reddit when Huffman wrote a letter to employees in response to the protests. She tweeted that Reddit should have closed the forum rather than amplifying “hatred, racism and violence”.
Several Republican lawmakers wrote to Huffman last week to criticize what they called his r / The_Donald censorship.
Internet entrepreneur Ohanian, married to American tennis player Serena Williams, also pledged $ 1 million to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights camp, a youth legal awareness campaign.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
