Michael Seibel, the tech entrepreneur, has been appointed by Reddit as a board member which makes him the first black member to work at the company. Co-founder Alexis Ohanian had left the position because he wanted to support racial inclusivity and work towards promoting diversity.
Reddit acted on his thought and his request to fill his seat with a member belonging to the black community. Michael Seibel is a partner at the startup Y Combinator. Michael Seibel has also been the co-founder of the famous video game platform Twitch.
“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 said in today’s announcement.
Michael Seibel has also mentioned that he knew Alexia Ohanian and the CEO of the company Steve Huffman. Additionally, he also said that he has been an active user of Reddit ever since the site was launched.
In the middle of an ongoing protest against racial injustice, Reddit’s CEO Steve Huffman faced considerable backlash owing to Reddit’s free speech policy, which essentially enables racist posts to exist on the social media platform.
Protesters have voiced their opinions about how tech companies should do the needful to speak up and condemn racial hate spewed on social media. Post this backlash, Huffman promptly replied stating that he will address the free speech policy drawbacks and not support any kind of hate speech. Reddit users have remained sceptical of the idea as the need of the hour is to bring about changes in such policies urgently. However, maybe Michael Seibel will the change that Redditors so desperately want.
After appointing Michael Seibel to the board, Steve Huffman has stated, “Few people have Michael’s deep background in tech and know the challenges and opportunities we face as well as he does, so we are honoured he is joining us. Not to mention, he is one of the smartest and kindest people in tech.”
Michael Seibel has also been working to hire and work with a racially diverse group of employees as he has previously hired black and Latino people within his organisation. He has been seen to promote an inclusive atmosphere in terms of having people from different races work and be a part of the tech industry.
Michael Seibel has been considerably vocal about his stand regarding police brutality and the need for reformation, he has also spoken up against President Donal Trump on his Twitter account. People have also been suggestive of including more women in the tech industry and asked for recognition for the need to have minorities in the workforce. The need currently is to have a racial and gender-inclusive workforce all in all.