Michael Seibel: Reddit names first black board member after Alexis Ohanian quits

Seibel was also Y Combinator's first black partner before becoming CEO

(Credit: Kimberly White/Getty Images)

Reddit has announced its replacement for Alexis Ohanian, who stepped down from the company’s board of directors last week.

Ohanian said he wanted his position filled by a black candidate. That person is Michael Seibel, the CEO of startup accelerator Y Combinator.

Seibel was also the founder of Justin.tv, which eventually became the Amazon-owned gaming streaming site Twitch.

He was Y Combinator’s first black partner before he became CEO, and has supported donating to causes that promote the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I want to thank Steve, Alexis, and the entire Reddit board for this opportunity. I’ve known Steve and Alexis since 2007 and have been a Reddit user ever since,” Seibel said in a statement.

“Over this period of time I’ve watched Reddit become part of the core fabric of the internet and I’m excited to help provide advice and guidance as Reddit continues to grow and tackle the challenges of bringing community and belonging to a broader audience.”

Seibel’s hiring comes as Reddit CEO Steve Huffman published a letter saying that the company needed to take a greater stand against racism on its platform.

Reddit does “not tolerate hate, racism, and violence, and while we have work to do to fight these on our platform, our values are clear,” he wrote.

However, that letter was criticised by former CEO Ellen Pao, who was harassed by political subreddits for attempting to enact policies that would make the platform less politicised.

Over 500 Reddit moderators also published their own open letter in response, claiming that Huffman’s letter was “hypocritical” and asked that the CEO take a number of actions.

These included being more proactive in banning hate users, enacting a sitewide policy against racism, and replacing Alexis Ohanian with a black candidate – which has now been done.

In addition to stepping down Ohanian also said he would be using future gains on his Reddit stock to “serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate,” starting with a pledge of $1m to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp.