Reddit's co-founder Alexis Ohanian recently made a request to the company to replace him with a black candidate after he resigned from his position. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman acknowledged this and confirmed that the company will honor his request.
It is not clear when the new member will take his position, Huffman added that Reddit has come a long way and there's a lot that the company plans on doing.
"As Reddit has grown, alongside much good, it is facing its own challenges around hate and racism," the CEO said. "We have to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the role we have played."
Huffman also noted that the company will work on aspects of Reddit that reflect the true "resemblance to the world in the hate that black users receive daily". He added that the company will make it transparent what administrators believe about racism and will collaborate with moderators to shape corporate policies.
Huffman highlighted how Reddit has combated racism on the platform in the past and also mentioned where it fell short including its failure to do anything about Trump's subreddit that incited violence. He admitted that the company should have taken some action sooner.
So even though it hasn't been taken down, Reddit has implemented a "quarantine" over the subreddit which makes it's content only accessible when a user enters with a verified email address.
Huffman has clearly said that this a turning point for the company. "We have a choice: return to the status quo or use this opportunity for change. We at Reddit are opting for the latter, and we will do our very best to be a part of the progress," he said.
He also urged users to ask him anything wish to do so, the Q/A session had over 20,000 comments in no time.
During the session, he shared that Reddit plans on expanding its number of councils, bring in more moderators, forming a council to tackle social justice issues, and more.
