Reddit CEO: Site Is 'Not a Bastion of Free Speech,' Change Coming

[DEAD7]

Reddit's new CEO, cofounder Steve Huffman, has made a statement regarding the site's controversial racism- and abuse-related community "subreddits." He said, "we don't have any obligation to support them." In the brief announcement, Huffman explains that a robust content policy is something they have "been thinking about for quite some time" and is in the cards in the near future. It has also come to light via former CEO Yishan Wong that ousted interim boss Ellen Pao was one of the few defenders of the controversial subreddits, favoring a strategy of coexistence over the board's plan to eliminate problem communities. Wong blames another co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, for strategy changes that led to the firing of "Ask Me Anything" administrator Victoria Taylor whose unexpected absence crippled that component of the site.

 

[nineteeneightysix]

Not a big deal...

People can have their free speech, but people also have the freedom to choose not to listen....I have the right to refuse to lend my bullhorn to people expressin opinions I believed are founded on stupidity...

Reddit or any forum is a "bullhorn" the owners can make the choice to limit access to people they deem stupid...

 

[DLo]

Reddit's new CEO, cofounder Steve Huffman, has made a statement regarding the site's controversial racism- and abuse-related community "subreddits." He said, "we don't have any obligation to support them." In the brief announcement, Huffman explains that a robust content policy is something they have "been thinking about for quite some time" and is in the cards in the near future. It has also come to light via former CEO Yishan Wong that ousted interim boss Ellen Pao was one of the few defenders of the controversial subreddits, favoring a strategy of coexistence over the board's plan to eliminate problem communities. Wong blames another co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, for strategy changes that led to the firing of "Ask Me Anything" administrator Victoria Taylor whose unexpected absence crippled that component of the site.

So they person whose head they were calling for was actually on their side. Lol

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Now racists will have to troll elsewhere

 

[George's Dilemma]

Can't entirely blame them. At the end of the day, the bottom line is the only thing that matters and it's not a good look when some pretty distasteful topics are sitting prominently at the top of their forum pages. (going off of what I've read from other journals as I'm not a Reddit user) Even st0rmfr0nt mods make a reasonable attempt to reign in the verbiage of their users. For those that don't like that, there are other forums out there that allow them to express themselves however they wish. That said, what Reddit chooses to do, is ultimately up to them.

 

[Dr. Acula]

Not just on reddit but in real life, it seems I have to personally remind "BUT MY FREE SPEECH FREE SPEECH" types that the free speech constitutional protections mean the government can't prosecute and persecute those for speech and even our government hasn't been consistent on that front in our history (i.e. McCarthy). Private organizations and individuals have no obligation to protect your free speech.

 

[CHL]

Can't entirely blame them. At the end of the day, the bottom line is the only thing that matters and it's not a good look when some pretty distasteful topics are sitting prominently at the top of their forum pages. (going off of what I've read from other journals as I'm not a Reddit user) Even st0rmfr0nt mods make a reasonable attempt to reign in the verbiage of their users. For those that don't like that, there are other forums out there that allow them to express themselves however they wish. That said, what Reddit chooses to do, is ultimately up to them.

Really? also how do you know this?

 

[Dr. Acula]

Really? also how do you know this?

I visited the site a while back. This isn't to defend it the site in the least but he is right. They view themselves as a political movement and thus the site runners on that site encourage their users to moderate SOME things like not saying the word ****** so they can be more appealing to fence sitting racists. Funny enough they find every other name in the book for black folks on there. Also they encourage them to avoid saying anything inciteful since they are also made up of paranoid conspiracy types who think the FBI and DEA are watching their every move.

When I was a teen and young adult, I visited these sites just because I want to see how people like this thought. At this age, I've had my fill and after a while its way too draining on your soul breh to see all that hate.

 

[George's Dilemma]

Really? also how do you know this?

I browse it for entertainment purposes, along with being generally fascinated with race relations. Not to mention I like to know what the other side is thinking and the best way to find that out is to check out forums and comment sections of any online news article. Sh!t is fascinating to me.

 

[AquaCityBoy]

fukk Reddit and anybody that love em

 

[tmonster]

Politics is the organization of our hatreds.
-cant remember name...

Apparently so will be the internets

 

[duckbutta]

Reddit has become st0rmfr0nt jr...

I never really understood the appeal of that place but that's another story for another thread

 

[Pifferry]

People on that site seem to think that free speech means no rules and no consequences for what they say.
They think being able to be offensive is some sort of form of freedom fighting.

Reddit has become st0rmfr0nt jr...

I never really understood the appeal of that place but that's another story for another thread

There's two sides to the site, the one we're against and another side that's constantly at war with them.
The entirety of the site isn't bad.

 

[Consigliere]

So they person whose head they were calling for was actually on their side. Lol

This is almost a universal law at this point.

The target of your ire is almost never the cause of the the anger.

 

[ExodusNirvana]

Don't condemn Reddit because of the bad eggs that use it as their vehicle for stupidity. I applaud the new CEO for taking steps towards letting the rest of the Internets know that Reddit is not a safe haven for cism, bigotry and other forms of fukkery that these "I don't know what free speech really means" types engage in.

Besides...a quick glance at ESPN or HuffPo or another other number of sites that use Facebook as their comment posting vehicle lets you know not only these peoples first and last names but exactly who they are and what they think. Most are too stupid to use an alias and you can tell a lot about them just based on their education and or what job they list.