Reddit caught between user highs and ‘edgier’ lows
Free-speech ethos that built up around the site was an accident, says chief executive
By Richard Waters
Can one of the rowdiest sites on the internet be tamed? Reddit, whose users post links and comment on news stories, TV shows and all sorts of other things, has in the past been accused of ignoring harassment, racism and hate speech.
But according to Steve Huffman, chief executive, it now has a shot at becoming one of the most widely used websites. “I’d like it to be billions, down the road,” he says of Reddit’s audience. “We are one of the few companies that with a straight face can talk about doing that.” And, in a swipe at Twitter, which serves a similar purpose: “You can only do so much in 140 characters.”
Mr Huffman is not alone. Reddit raised $200m from venture capitalists in July and its audience is on the rise. Thanks in no small part to the online polarisation stirred by Donald Trump, the number of people who visit at least once a month has jumped to 310m, up from 160m two years ago.
That puts it on a trajectory to soar past Twitter, whose count of monthly active users reached 328m at the end of June, only 16m more than two years ago. But to have a shot at reaching the Facebook-like scale…
