Former Reddit CEO Yishan Wong has weighed in on the controversy spurred by the website’s recent decision to shut down certain discussion groups, known as subreddits.
Banning the subreddits, some of which were dedicated to demeaning overweight people, is not an attempt to curb free speech, Wong wrote in a post on Quora. Rather he said, it’s simply a move to prevent people from being harassed in real life.
"/r/fatpeoplehate was not banned for hating on fat people. You can do that on reddit," Wong wrote. "/r/fatpeoplehate was banned because its users were targeting people off of reddit and harassing them. Upon investigation, it was found that not only were the mods participating in it, they were at times even encouraging it."
Under a new harassment policy, Reddit banned five communities devoted to hating or criticizing fat people, transgender people, and other groups.
The backlash was swift in the community as many interpreted the ban of the subreddits as an attack on users free speech and a sign that the company was going to start banning content it found morally objectionable.
That's entirely false, Wong said.
"The key problem with a community site that allows any type of legal content is this: At some point, discussion and ideas can result in real-life actions," Wong wrote.
"I don't think reddit is putting a stop to the mockery of fat people or fat acceptance in general," Wong wrote. "It's not becoming a 'safe space' for fat people or anyone else: if you mention on reddit that you are fat, and a bunch of users then reply with a bunch of mocking comments on reddit, the company will likely take no action."
"You are free to be an asshole on reddit (within communities whose mods allow it), but keep it on reddit," Wong concluded.