In the video, Ohanian suggested his seat be given to a black board member. He also seems to claim Reddit no longer upholds the community values he first instated. “15 years ago I co-founded Reddit as a place for people to find community and a sense of belonging,” he began. “It is long overdue to do the right thing.”
Reddit is a community-driven chat platform that allows users to upload text, video or photo posts to a variety of “subreddits.” These separated sections have individual topics. In the past, Reddit has been slammed for allowing racist communities and comments. CEO Steve Huffman even confirmed that racist speech is not against Reddit’s rules in 2018.
Ohanian’s statement continued. “I’m doing this for me, for my family and for my country. I’m saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his Black daughter when she asks ‘What did you do?’”
And Ohanian, who is married to tennis star Serena Williams, isn’t stepping down silently. He’s pledged to use his financial gains from Reddit to make a positive impact.
“I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate, and I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate, and I’m starting with a pledge of $1M to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp.”
Twitter users seem to have mixed opinions about Ohanian’s decision. Some support the statement and praised the co-founder for standing up for the movement. Others questioned if it would be more effective for him to stay on the board and to drive change.
His decision to step down comes after backlash from former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao, who publicly slammed Huffman for allowing a subreddit called The_Donald to promote hate speech. That particular subreddit was “quarantined” in 2018, which means users must consent to a warning about violent content before they can view the channel.
“I am obligated to call you out: You should have shut down the_donald instead of amplifying it and its hate, racism, and violence,” wrote Pao. “So much of what is happening now lies at your feet. You don’t get to say [Black Lives Matter] when Reddit nurtures and monetizes white supremacy and hate all day long.”
Pao was responding directly to a letter issued by Huffman after the death of George Floyd. “We work for this platform because we care deeply about community and belonging,” wrote Huffman. “But community and belonging are not possible without safety from violence, and now is the time to stand in solidarity with the Black members of our communities (locally, at Reddit Inc., on Reddit, and beyond).”
Huffman directly said Reddit condemns racism. “As Snoos, we do not tolerate hate, racism, and violence, and while we have work to do to fight these on our platform, our values are clear.”
When Newsweek asked Huffman for comment on Ohanian’s decision to step down, Reddit directed us to Huffman’s public statement. The CEO directly addressed Ohanian’s wish to have his seat filled by a Black board member.
“He wishes for his seat to be filled with a Black candidate, a request that the board and I will honor,” Huffman wrote. “We thank Alexis for this meaningful gesture and all that he’s done for us over the years.” The full statement dives into Reddit’s future content policy, which will directly address hate.
Newsweek reached out to Ohanian for further comment on why he chose Know Your Rights Camp, and what he’d like to see Reddit change. He did not immediately respond. We also didn’t hear back from Pao at the time of publication.
This article was updated to include Huffman’s statement.
