[View the story "Alexis Ohanian" on Storify ]Alexis Ohanian Storified by AJAMStream · Thu, Nov 28 2013 18:51:10
When Alexis Ohanian started Reddit with fellow UVA graduate Steve Huffman, the two accounted for a majority of the content. Currently, the site has grown to an estimated
42 million monthly viewers and is ranked as one of the
top websites in the U.S.. The video below shows how the site works.
What is reddit?cgpgrey
As the site has grown, so has Ohanian's celebrity. On his book tour, "Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed," Alexis is scheduled to make over
100 stops .
withouttheirpermission.com
Ohanian uses his platform to advocate for an open internet free from government censorship. He even
solicits advice from Reddit users, or "Redditors." When Alexis was scheduled to speak to Congress about the
Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)- which would have given authorities more power to track down and punish users of illegal online counterfeit goods - he suggested a billboard. In a matter of days, online users turned his idea into a reality:
fightforthefuture.org
In protest against SOPA, Reddit led the charge to blackout it's website. Other major internet companies
followed suit .
Google:
Google Blackoutajamstream
Wikipedia:
Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday! #sopaJimmy Wales
This activism has led some to believe that Ohanian should run for office.
@fmanjoo @jwherrman also I'm on a self-imposed Reddit hiatus. Trying to save up all my Reddit material for when Ohanian runs for office.Adrian Chen
Like many politicians though, Reddit is not immune to controversy.
PandoHouse Rock: Reddit, Explainedpandodaily
The video above references a Reddit user who was
outed for moderating a subreddit - or a subsidiary community within the website - called "jailbait." The moderator of the subreddit, Violentacrez, was accused of circulating pictures of underage girls.
Remember "violentacrez"? Issue isn't one creep, but the way Reddit fostered a whole community of them in a place where POTUS also does AMAs.Zeynep Tufekci
Shortly thereafter, Reddit updated its rules,
banning the upload of any sexually explicit images of minors.
funny how one of Reddit's rules is "nothing illegal" but for some reason "No suggestive/sexual content feat. minors" didn't fall into that.Julian McAllister
Another criticism aimed at Reddit was how the site
banned several online publications for what its political community deemed as "bad journalism." They have since
backtracked .
Reddit Bans Salon, Mother Jones, Huffington Post for “Bad Journalism” http://tinyurl.com/o57nkwl Seriously HP won the 2012 Pulitzer PrizeJennifer
The Twitter user below takes issue with Reddit's
handling of the search for the Boston bombing suspects. Users of the site created a subreddit called "Find Boston Bombers," and attempted to identify them but instead, misidentified several people.
@VeganRottweiler Police don’t publicly name every single suspect that enters their head. Also, right, get this: Reddit isn’t the police.Alex Hern
Another long running criticism is that the site is
sexist .
@KiriVinokur Google "is reddit sexist" and "is reddit misogynist" to see a ton of people detailing this oddity about that community.Harvey Smith
I've decided Reddit is too deeply sexist to bother trying to comment there. I shall go back to lurking. Once again misogyny wins the day.Captain Tracy King
Ohanian responds to the sexist allegations made against the site via webpost on his blog. In it, he encourages users to be more open.
This isn't "political correctness," this is you having the courage to use your words to create an environment that promotes an open exchange of ideas -- not alienate people and certainly not terrorize them.alexisohanian.com
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