The latest chapter in the seemingly never ending Reddit drama involves CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman trying to clarify once and for all what the website’s stance on free speech is, as well as trying to win back the trust of its users. Having been away from Reddit for about six years, Huffman was asked to come back after former CEO Ellen Pao was forced to step down by popular demand from the Reddit community.
The return of a founder to a company is a well-worn story line in Silicon Valley. In Apple’s darkest hour, Steve Jobs came back, eventually turning the computer maker into the world’s most valuable corporation. In April, Mark Pincus stepped back into the chief executive role at Zynga. And Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, has twice returned to help right the social media company’s ship. Now Steve Huffman, who co-founded Reddit in 2005, may have one of the toughest returns of all. After being away for six years, Mr. Huffman reappeared last Friday as chief executive to pull off a turnaround of the online message board, which has grappled with a series of missteps and is embroiled in a battle to win back the confidence of its users. On Thursday, Mr. Huffman made his first moves toward that end. The company, based in San Francisco, proposed a new content policy for the site that would effectively ban spam, illegal activity and harassment, as well as the posting of “private or confidential information” and sexual content involving minors.
