The social network Reddit, which posted $243 million in revenue in its first report since going public in March, has agreed to take “several important steps” to combat antisemitism on its platform, the Anti-Defamation League said on Thursday.
The ADL said that six moderators on the site who run channels—called subreddits—approached the nonprofit for help addressing Jew-hatred. (The site is known both for its subreddits and its chats, called “Ask Me Anything” or AMA, in which a person, often someone famous, fields questions directly from readers.)
“The six moderators came from a variety of Jewish-focused subreddits who have, by their own estimate, an average of 78,000 subscribers, and receive approximately 50 posts and 1,400 comments per subreddit per day,” the ADL said.
The moderators “face steady personal and targeted harassment from users,” it added, “antisemitism has had a chilling effect on speech for the moderators and those on their subreddits, and the response to antisemitism reports on the site has stopped at least one moderator from reporting instances of antisemitism.”
After talking with Reddit, the ADL said that the site has agreed to offer “refresher training” on hate policies (including antisemitism) to safety staff, to include Jews in its communities partner program and to review safety settings, among other things.
The ADL also released a report on the matter.