Reddit Names Michael Seibel to Board After Ohanian’s Name 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 came because the dying of George Floyd in police custody triggered widespread protests in opposition to racism and police brutality, whereas additionally reigniting the controversy of range in America’s company boardrooms and content material moderation practices on social media.

Responding to Ohanian’s request, Chief Government Officer Steve Huffman mentioned on Friday “the unacceptable hole” between Reddit’s content material coverage and values has decreased the corporate’s effectiveness in combating hate and racism, and slowed down its response to issues.

“This present coverage lists solely what you can not do, articulates not one of the values behind the foundations, and doesn’t explicitly take a stance on hate or racism.”

Huffman additionally mentioned 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 in opposition to police and public officers.

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

© Thomson Reuters 2020