By: Diana Printz | 11-24-2016 | News

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman moderated posts, and lost 'Safe Harbor' Protection

The first rule of running a user interactive website is:

Don't moderate the users.

It seems that Steve Huffman has violated this rule, when he edited posts made by Donald Trump supporters. He has admitted to this moderation on his Reddit profile. This mistake in management of his website is a really big deal. By moderating Reddit. He now faces liability for any post on Reddit. There are millions of posts, and it is truly impossible to moderate Reddit, but now he is liable for that. His previous partner the late Eric Swartz. Stood for free speech.I guess, Steve Huffman has a different view on free speech. What was he thinking? His site has been the 'Go To' website for people looking for the scoop, and first news all over the world. It encourages original posting of the original source. Now, it is just another shill site, with a giant liability. What if the FBI asked for information on a user, and he had edited that post? Would the user be criminally liable for that? Suppose Agent Anderson asks Reddit for information on someone that posted child pornography. What if Mr. Huffman had edited that post? Who is to say that the original poster even made the offending content that the FBI is investigating? Steve Huffman would be liable in this case. Eric Swartz, was facing a stiff prison term for his stance on free speech, and chose suicide as his option to avoid prison. With the liability that Steve Huffman has just taken on with his confession of moderation of user posts. The potential prison time is magnitudes higher than the time Eric Swartz was looking at. I hope that Mr. Huffman does not make the same decision that Mr. Swartz made.

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3 Comment/s
Anonymous No. 579 2016-11-25 : 00:13

lol.. sigh

Anonymous No. 580 2016-11-25 : 02:34

It was Aaron Swartz, not Eric Swartz.

Anonymous No. 592 2016-11-26 : 06:04

>>580

The moral is, don't commit suicide. People will forget your name.

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