Show caption Reddit’s approach to offensive behaviour has evolved from a position of actively banning users for hate speech to one allowing it under the guise of free speech. Photograph: Handout Reddit Open racism and slurs are fine to post on Reddit, says CEO Steve Huffman says communities can set own guidelines, but racism is permitted on wider site as people have ‘different beliefs’ Samuel Gibbs Thu 12 Apr 2018 10.56 BST Share on Facebook

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Racist slurs are permitted on Reddit, says the popular social news and discussion site’s chief executive, Steve Huffman.

Within a discussion thread that followed the publishing of the site’s transparency report on Russian propaganda, Huffman, in reply to a question from a Reddit user about whether “open racism, including slurs” are allowed on the platform, said their use was not against Reddit’s rules.

“On Reddit, the way in which we think about speech is to separate behavior from beliefs,” said Huffman under his username spez. “This means on Reddit there will be people with beliefs different from your own, sometimes extremely so. When users’ actions conflict with our content policies, we take action.”

Huffman’s controversial response explains why outwardly racist and high-profile communities have been allowed to operate on a site that has 542 million monthly visitors.

“Our approach to governance is that communities can set appropriate standards around language for themselves. Many communities have rules around speech that are more restrictive than our own, and we fully support those rules,” Huffman said.

Reddit’s approach to offensive behaviour has evolved from a position of actively banning users for hate speech to one allowing it under the guise of free speech.

In July 2015 Huffman said of banning hate speech: “I don’t think we should silence people just because their viewpoints are something we disagree with. There is value in the conversation, and we as a society need to confront these issues. This is an incredibly complex topic, and I’m sure our thinking will continue to evolve.”

That evolution appears to have created a light-touch moderation policy that permits racism and hate speech unless otherwise banned by the particular subreddit’s rules. Reddit will still take action when there is evidence of direct threats or incitement of violence. But some high-profile subeddits, including The_Donald, have been accused of participating in the organisation of events such as the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville that led to the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, with seemingly little consequence.

• This article was amended on 8 July 2019 to correct some misspellings of Steve Huffman’s last name.