Reddit Names Seibel to Board After Ohanian’s Call for Black Candidate

Social community firm Reddit on Wednesday named enterprise capital investor Michael Seibel to its board, days after co-founder and former director Alexis Ohanian resigned and known as for the corporate to switch him with a black candidate.

Ohanian’s resignation got here because the dying of George Floyd in police custody triggered widespread protests towards racism and police brutality, whereas additionally reigniting the controversy of variety in America’s company boardrooms and content material moderation practices on social media.

Responding to Ohanian’s request, Chief Executive Officer Steve Huffman stated on Friday “the unacceptable gap” between Reddit’s content material coverage and values has lowered 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.”

Huffman additionally stated Reddit ought to have moved sooner to limit entry to r/The_Donald, a significant discussion board for supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump that Reddit ‘quarantined’ final 12 months citing threats of violence towards police and public officers.

Seibel is also the CEO of Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley incubator of startups, whose notable early investments embody Airbnb, DoorDash, Dropbox, and Reddit itself in 2005.

© Thomson Reuters 2020