Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, resigns from board, urges seat be filled by black candidate.
What We Know
- Ohanian co-founded the social networking site, Reddit, 15 years ago. Unfortunately the site gave birth directly and indirectly to some of the worst racism, hate and trolling on the internet. Recently the co-founder resigned from his position on the board and asked for his position to be replaced.
- On Friday Ohanian took to twitter to urged Reddit to fill his position with a Black candidate. Ohanian who is the husband of the greates tennis player of all time, Serena Williams, says his family was the inspiration for his decision. He tweeted,”Im saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his Black daughter when she asks: ‘What did you do?'”
I’m saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: “What did you do?”⁰https://t.co/4UiozIOo8P
— Alexis Ohanian 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) June 5, 2020
- He also pledged $1 million to Colin Kaepernick’s nonprofit Know Your Rights Camp. “I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate,” Ohanian tweeted.
- The CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman stated the company would honor Ohanin’s request. Huffman took to twitter saying, “I want to take responsibility for the history of our policies over the years that got us here, and we still have work to do.”
- Before Ohanian stepped down from his position, the board was compromised of one woman and four white men.
- According to Business Insider, Reddit has done a poor job of addressing hateful and racist content on its site. Recently some of the most popular threads went private in an effort to protest hate speech and racism.
- Huffman has come under fire multiple times in the past for not taking actions on communities that promote racist views and language on the site. Earlier in the week Huffman published a letter stating hate, racism, and violence will not be tolerated on the Reddit platform and that their values are clear.
The former CEO Ellen Pao slammed Huffman’s comments on twitter, [sic]“I am obligated to call you out: You should have shut down the_donald instead of amplifying it and its hate, racism, and violence. So much of what is happening now lies at your feet. You don’t get to say BLM when reddit nurtures and monetizes white supremacy and hate all day long,”
