An online petition calling for Ellen Pao, the interim CEO of popular website Reddit, to step down has been signed by over 100,000 people who are deeply critical of her leadership.

Controversy over Pao's handling of the firing of a popular Reddit administrator continued to grow, as the uproar prompted several discussion boards to be taken offline, while the CEO lost more support among Reddit's users.

According to the Change.org petition, Pao is responsible for "a new age of censorship" on the website. The petition began three weeks ago after five forums (known as subreddits) on the site were banned for breaking Reddit's anti-harassment policy.

The appointment of Pao, the plaintiff in a high profile Silicon Valley discrimination lawsuit recently, was polarizing from the start. Some users were concerned that she would censor certain of the site's more freewheeling communities. Reddit's recent clampdown on a number of offensive subreddits led some users to deride her as "Chairman Pao."

"A vast majority of the Reddit community believes that Pao, "a manipulative individual who will sue her way to the top," has overstepped her boundaries and fears that she will run Reddit into the ground" the petition says.