A ‘gap between our content policy and our values has eroded our effectiveness in combating hate and racism,’ says Reddit CEO Steve Huffman.
(Credit: Reddit)
Reddit is pledging to take a stronger stance on fighting racism on the social media platform, but not everyone is convinced the company is ready for meaningful change.
The site made the announcement hours after Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian resigned from the company board, and urged remaining members to fill his seat with a black candidate.
In a post on Friday, Reddit’s other co-founder and current CEO, Steve Huffman, said he plans to honor Ohanian’s request to pick a black candidate for the position. He also discussed how Reddit must own up and address the racism that has long circulated on the site.
SEE ALSO: Reddit Co-Founder Resigns From Board, Urges Members to Replace Him With Black Candidate
“Parts of Reddit reflect an unflattering but real resemblance to the world in the hate that Black users and communities see daily, despite the progress we have made in improving our tooling and enforcement,” Huffman wrote.
Compounding the problem is how “users and moderators genuinely do not have enough clarity as to where we as administrators stand on racism,” Huffman added. As Reddit’s CEO acknowledged, the company’s own content policy refrains from explicitly banning racist posts, only speech that incites violence or involves bullying someone. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
In response, Reddit says it will flesh out its acceptable content policy. The plan entails “including a vision for Reddit and its communities to aspire to, a statement on hate, the context for the rules, and a principle that Reddit isn’t to be used as a weapon,” Huffman said.
