Reddit CEO Steve Huffman was recently questioned due to edited posts without user consent. The CEO, known by the username 'spez,' admits to the allegations but says it was only him "trolling the trolls for a bit." All edited posts were directed toward him.
Reddit, found in 2005, is an online platform where registered members can submit content and can group together posts according to interests, aptly called "subreddits." Subreddit topics include news, science, gaming, movies, music, books, fitness, food and image-sharing among others.
When posts and comments stray from Reddit policies, they are flagged and deleted; not edited. Some recently banned communities include r/CoonTown, r/WatchNiggersDie and r/bestofcoontown due to cyber hate and cyber bullying being spread by these groups.
Amidst the highly debated U.S. presidential elections, the subreddit community "r/Pizzagate" was also put down, which refers to a Washington DC pizza place alleged to be a child-abuse ring being run by Hillary Clinton and her campaign head John Podesta.
The role of moderators is thus very important to keep posts and groups in check. And it can also be very challenging.
With many edited posts by a certain 'spez,' members turned their questions on moderators whom they suspected of playing with their write-ups.
Posts include "f*** u/spez" which were then edited to "f*** u/the_donald" referring to a pro-Donald Trump subreddit.
After much debate on Reddit, Huffman finally admits he was behind the tampering, and these replacements he single-handedly did for about an hour.
Huffman is quoted into saying:
"Hey Everyone,
Yep. I messed with the "f**k u/spez" comments, replacing "spez" with "r/the_donald" mods for about an hour. It's been a long week here trying to unwind the "r/pizzagate" stuff. As much as we try to maintain a good relationship with you all, it does get old getting called a pedophile constantly. As the CEO, I shouldn't play such games, and it's all fixed now... Our community team is pretty pissed at me, so I most assuredly won't do this again.
F**ck u/spez."
But Huffman also points out to his actions as a bad culmination of a week hit by the "r/Pizzagate" scandal. For one full week all moderators had to check on every post following misinformation claims thrown at Facebook and Google. The "r/Pizzagate" issue became so viral with fraudulent claims on Hillary Clinton behind the kidnapping, molesting and trafficking of children in a pizza restaurant.
Redditors are not happy with the CEO's actions, and many admitted that Huffman has just destroyed Reddit's credibility.
In 2015, Huffman was appointed as Reddit CEO following the resignation of Ellen Pao amidst the "Reddit Revolt" controversy.
