Director: Racism is not banned on Reddit but is not welcome

Director Steve Huffman has somewhat nuanced his previously outspoken stance on racism on Reddit. He reiterates that while racism is not against Reddit’s rules, it is nevertheless not welcome on the discussion platform.

The Reddit director says in an update of his earlier position that he doesn’t always find the right words during a Reddit ama. Huffman states that the question about racism is a difficult one and that he wants to nuance his earlier position: according to the CEO, the words and expressions are not banned as such on Reddit, but the behavior that results often is. Partly because of this, Huffman says that racism is not welcome on Reddit.

At the same time, he outlines what he believes to be the best way to act against racism and other “abhorrent” views: reject them in free conversation and allow the various communities on Reddit to do so. Huffman thus proclaims the prevailing legal view in the United States that freedom of expression should be very broad. In European countries, this freedom is often somewhat more limited by other legal provisions, such as incitement to hatred.

The director of Reddit recently responded under his nickname Spez to a question from a Reddit user whether racism and defamation go against the rules on the platform. The director responded quite firmly by saying that this is not the case. In doing so, he endorsed the idea that behavior and beliefs are separated from each other and that there is therefore a large degree of freedom of expression.