A few weeks ago, Reddit announced they were finally taking a stand against online bullying and harassment. But did they do enough?
The popular website that blends the lines between message board, social network and news received massive backlash from users after it blocked five parts of the website dedicated to, among other things, fat-shaming, transphobia and racism.
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Reddit calls itself "the front page of the Internet," but to many it also serves as the gutter, the back alley and the place your parents warned you about. Over the past few months, I’ve started using Reddit more and more, and have seen firsthand both its awesome potential and its devastating reality.
The website consists entirely of user-submitted content, such as text posts or links to other websites on the Internet. The site is organized into sections called subreddits — which are like small communities that range from discussions on Game of Thrones to a place where users can submit things they’ve written and get instant feedback and technical advice. Unfortunately, it is also home to subreddits that preach misogyny and white supremacy.
But Reddit is not all bad. There are hundreds of subreddits devoted to helping people with things like personal finances and losing weight. There is even a subreddit called millionairemakers where users are randomly selected to be given money by members of the subreddit and can do with it what they wish.
This week, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced that the site will be hiding some of its worst content and require users to make an account and log-in if they want to actively seek out those subreddits. Anything that violates “common decency” will be sheltered from casual users.
This move comes less than a week after former CEO, Ellen Pao, resigned amidst a flurry of negative attention stemming from some of the policies she helped implement. One of the most controversial decisions was the dismissal of a popular employee who helped run the site's Q&A subreddit.
In an open letter to users after her resignation, Pao thanked her supporters and reminded everyone else that she is "just another human.”
Reminding people she is human seems like an exercise in futility. All one needs to do is scroll down to any news article comment section to see that humanity and the Internet rarely coexist. Such vitriol is exactly why Reddit’s identity crisis is so important.
Users of the site now have the opportunity to decide what kind of experience they want. Hopefully, their vision of moving forward is one of civility and community.
