Ellen Pao apologizes to Reddit users amid protest

Kaja Whitehouse | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Reddit users call for Ellen PAO to resign July 6 -- Bloomberg's Cory Johnson reports on a Reddit users petition asking for CEO Ellen Pao to resign. Johnson speaks on "Bloomberg Markets."

NEW YORK — Ellen Pao, the interim CEO of popular online message board Reddit, apologized to users Monday for "a long history of mistakes" as a petition calling for her ouster gained signatures.

"We screwed up," Pao wrote in a statement posted on the site Monday. "Today, we acknowledge this long history of mistakes," she said while vowing to implement changes to improve the site.

Pao, known for her gender bias lawsuit against Silicon Valley venture-capital giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, issued the mea culpa as a Change.org petition gained steam following the dismissal last week of a well-liked Reddit employee.

The petition notched more than 190,000 signatures by Monday afternoon.

"Ellen has the full support of the team" at Reddit, spokeswoman Heather Wilson said Monday.

Kicking off the protest was Reddit's dismissal of Victoria Taylor, Reddit's director of talent, on Thursday. Taylor was known to Reddit's moderators, who run the message boards on a volunteer basis, because she coordinated the site's popular Ask Me Anything (AMA) platform where celebrities, political leaders and other influential people take questions from the Reddit community.

But Taylor's dismissal only compounded growing disagreements with Pao about the direction of the site, including her recent move to reduce harassment on the platform, which some users' have objected to on the grounds of free speech.

The Change.org petition was started a month ago over the harassment policy, which has triggered fears that Pao is taking the no-hold-barred web site in a more mainstream direction. "Reddit entered into a new age of censorship" under Pao, the petition's author complained.

Pao on Monday apologized for not properly communicating recent changes to the site and for failing to deliver on promises for improvement. She also outlined three steps she is taking to win back users' confidence.

The changes include appointing people to work with moderators to determine what tools they want for the site, as well as naming a new "moderator advocate." The advocate will be responsible for communicating with volunteer moderators, who have been behind the protest.

Last week, some volunteer moderators also temporarily shut down sections of the site, on which people gather to discuss topics ranging from video games to fitness and television.

Separate from the apology, Pao also sought to explain her definition of harassment amid a barrage of questions from users. She said Reddit defines harassment as repeated actions "to torment or demean someone" in a way that would make them think the site is unsafe or to fear for their safety.

Pao, who was appointed Reddit CEO in 2014, was thrust into the national spotlight when her sex discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins went to trial earlier this year. Pao lost the jury trial in March but has said she will appeal.