Ellen Pao resigns from Reddit
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Loading... - J. Oliveira
- 12 Jul 2020
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Following weeks of controversy and community backlash, Reddit interim CEO Ellen Pao has stepped down from her role.
Reddit's co-founder and former CEO Steve Huffman -- aka u/spez -- will be returning to the role of CEO in Pao's absence, in a permanent capacity.
"After more than two years at reddit, I have resigned today. My first day was April 1, 2013 and every day since has been an adventure," Pao wrote in a farewell post.
However, it is clear the negative response from some parts of the Reddit community to her time in the role has struck a nerve. "In my eight months as reddit’s CEO, I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly on reddit," Pao says. "The good has been off-the-wall inspiring, and the ugly made me doubt humanity."
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Despite the backlash, Pao says that the main reason for her departure is that "Ultimately, the board asked me to demonstrate higher user growth in the next six months than I believe I can deliver while maintaining reddit’s core principles."
In the wake of the implementation of anti-harrassment rules on the discussion forum site, a Change.org petition calling for Pao's resignation was launched. Following the widely criticised dismissal of Victoria Taylor, co-ordinator of Reddit's popular "Ask Me Anything" sessions, that petition rocketed to more than 213,000 signatories. It also launched a wave of vitriol in Pao's direction.
Reddit's future is now uncertain. The tumult of the past few weeks has seen many users abandon the site, though the exodus has left some of its would-be replacements struggling to match demand. To a great extent, Reddit as a company lives or dies by the whims of Reddit as a community; whether Pao's departure will see its popularity restored remains to be seen.
