Reddit CEO Faces Thousands in 'Ask Me Anything' Forum

Reddit’s new CEO, Steve Huffman, tackled the issue of free speech on the  “front page of the Internet” in an "Ask Me Anything" forum July 16, announcing the website was considering implementing new content restrictions and fielding questions from a live online audience that peaked at around 45,000.

Huffman, a co-founder of Reddit, replaced interim CEO Ellen Pao after she resigned in the wake of a user revolt triggered by the firing of an "Ask Me Anything" coordinator.

Pao, meanwhile, published an op-ed in the Washington Post July 16 in which she cautioned that "the trolls are winning the battle for the Internet," but "I'm rooting for the humans."

“Today we're announcing that we're considering a set of additional restrictions on what people can say on Reddit -- or at least say on our public pages,” Huffman stated in a post opening the online dialogue.

“As Reddit has grown, we've seen additional examples of how unfettered free speech can make Reddit a less enjoyable place to visit, and can even cause people harm outside of Reddit.”

He listed the type of content that would be prohibited:
• Spam
• Anything illegal (i.e., things that are actually illegal, such as copyrighted material. Discussing illegal activities, such as drug use, is not illegal)
• Publication of someone’s private and confidential information
• Anything that incites harm or violence against an individual or group of people
• Anything that harasses, bullies or abuses an individual or group of people (these behaviors intimidate others into silence)
• Sexually suggestive content featuring minors

For those not familiar, Reddit is a social news media site created 10 years ago that has grown to become one of the world's most popular websites, featuring thousands of volunteer-run subreddits where online communities form, based on specific areas of interest.

It's a celebrated hub where science geeks swap ideas and Photoshop wizards share clever images that take wing as Internet memes. But Reddit has also come under fire for allowing deplorable content to proliferate unchecked.

Its recent decision to shut down a handful of hateful subreddits ignited a fiery debate.

As the New York Times observed about the most recently proposed policy changes: "The moves risk alienating the new chief executive from the community he helped create a decade ago out of a two-bedroom apartment in a Boston suburb, potentially driving users to find another site to post any and every type of content they want."

Huffman provided deeper explanations for the thinking around the proposed new content policy in response to user questions. In response to the question: "What actually is the harassment policy?" Huffman said: "This is the area that needs the most explanation. Filling someone’s inbox with [messages] saying, 'Kill yourself' is harassment. Calling someone stupid on a public forum is not."

Meanwhile, some observers have pointed out that Reddit's attempts to address what Huffman has characterized as the site’s “dark side” coincides with a move toward commercialization.

“If we go back to a year ago, Alexis Ohanian returned -- he had left in 2009 after they sold Reddit to a division of Conde Nast. He returned, took a $50 million investment from prominent venture capitalists, and now he’s on a path to make Reddit the next big business,” Connie Guglielmo, editor-in-chief for CNET News, said in a discussion July 16 on KQED Forum. The site is valued at $500 million, Guglielmo said.

Gawker’s Sam Biddle also joined the conversation on Forum. “If Reddit wants to be a viable editorial business of any kind, no one’s going to do business with a company that condones white supremacists and general bigotry and borderline child pornography, which has been a landmark on the Internet, on Reddit, for years now,” Biddle said. “Reddit has to decide whether it wants to be this sort of juvenile free-for-all, or a Conde Nast-affliated, venture-backed corporation. It can’t have it both ways.”

During the "Ask Me Anything" forum, users pressed Huffman on what subreddits specifically could be banned outright under the policy that's under consideration. In response, he singled out one that encourages people to rape. “Banning is like capital punishment, and we don't want to do it except in the clearest of cases,” he wrote.

Other kinds of controversial content would be subjected to “separation and opt-in techniques,” he explained.

But not everyone was impressed. According to Gawker’s take: “It looks like you will now be able to ‘opt-in’ to white supremacist invective in Reddit.”

In an announcement about the forum posted two days prior, Huffman stated, “Neither Alexis [Ohanian, a co-founder] nor I created reddit to be a bastion of free speech, but rather as a place where open and honest discussion can happen.” He billed the July 16 "Ask Me Anything" as a forum to “present our current thinking to you, the community, and solicit your feedback.”

This prompted a detailed response from former CEO Yishan Wong, who said Pao was in fact more inclined to uphold free speech policies than Huffman is.

Speaking on Forum July 16, David Weinberger, senior researcher at Harvard University's Berkman Center for the Internet & Society, pointed out that there technically is no First Amendment issue at stake, because Reddit is a privately owned company.

“If Reddit wants to make a business decision that it is going to forbid certain types of subreddits or certain types of talk, that’s up to it,” Weinberger said. “There is no First Amendment issue here. It’s not a government site. They can do whatever they want, and they’ll do whatever they want.”

As a self-described “conflicted liberal,” Weinberger added: “I’m conflicted about what they should do.”