Reddit parts way with controversial employee after site-wide protests
What's the story
Reddit was compelled to part ways with former UK politician Aimee Challenor after hundreds of high profile subreddits went private to protest the platform's censorship. Challenor was recently employed by Reddit but several Redditors questioned the decision citing her poor judgment, which led to her suspension from two political parties in the UK. Reddit's decision comes after its initial attempts to censor these Redditors.
Red flags
Challenor disciplined by two UK parties over ethical concerns
UK's Green Party cut ties with Challenor for hiring her father as her campaign manager under a fake name, despite him being arrested and charged for sexually abusing a minor. She reportedly shared the house with her father at that time. On a separate instance, Challenor was suspended by the Liberal Democrats party after her fiance tweeted sexually inappropriate fantasies involving minors.
Speak no evil
Reddit banned anyone who highlighted Challenor's past for unknown period
Reddit had hired Challenor just recently, which prompted it to punish Redditors sharing articles highlighting her troubled past. The platform began flagging any mention of Challenor as instances of doxxing and transphobic harassment, which incur permanent bans. It is unclear if such posts were motivated by the knowledge of Challenor's employment at Reddit, but several banned users claimed to be oblivious to that fact.
Flashpoint
Reddit's censorship was exposed after a high-profile moderator was banned
Reddit's efforts to censor posts about Challenor were revealed after the subreddit UKPolitics' moderator was banned. The moderator was banned for sharing an article mentioning Challenor. When it was figured out Reddit was banning everyone posting the employee's name, several users protested by flooding the site with posts mentioning Challenor. This metastasized into a site-wide protest with several high-profile subreddits going private.
Crowdsourced charity
Users boycott Reddit currency; Instead divert money to charities
The protest encompassed more than 200 subreddits including r/Music which has 27 million members. Meanwhile some user posts explaining the episode have received nearly 50,000 upvotes. Others have been appealing everyone to avoid rewarding Reddit by boycotting user awards and Reddit currency, and instead diverting the money to charities. Certain subreddits such as r/Conservative have raised more than $11,000 within a short time.
Reason
Reddit users question honesty of CEO's unconvincing apology
Subsequently, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman made an official statement revealing the company has parted ways with Challenor. The post also admitted it had enforced "extra protections" for Challenor. Although Huffman acknowledged Reddit's failure to "adequately vet her background," users called out the post's disingenuity considering how Reddit had plenty of time to act after several users had called out her employment.
Quote
Reddit CEO announces decision to let go of Challenor
"As of today, the employee in question is no longer employed by Reddit. We built a relationship with her first as a mod and then through her contractor work on RPAN. We did not adequately vet her background before formally hiring her," wrote Huffman.
Auto-moderation
Reddit says it protected Challenor from harassment per standard processes
Responding to censorship criticisms, Reddit claimed that it was protecting an employee from harassment as per standard company policies. This includes initiating automated moderation tools that scrub all mentions of victims to prevent them from being doxxed. However, Reddit users questioned that logic by pointing out that Challenor was a public figure, so doxxing rules cannot be applied.
Quote
Reddit users debunk CEO's doxxing argument
"You've completely ignored the real issue: the person you have hired is, at best, sympathetic to pedophilia....I don't condone doxxing virtually anyone, but what you're describing isn't doxxing. It's posting the name of a public figure," says Reddit user ModronMan.