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Steve Huffman

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Not to be confused with Steve Hoffman.
This article is about the American entrepreneur. For other uses, see Steve Huffman (disambiguation).

Steve Huffman
Huffman in 2017
Born1983 or 1984 (age 40–41)[1]
Lansing, Michigan, U.S.[2]
Other namesspez[3]
EducationUniversity of Virginia (BS)
Occupation(s)Co-founder and CEO of Reddit

Steve Huffman (born 1983 or 1984), also known by his Reddit username spez (/spɛz/), is an American web developer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Reddit, a social news and discussion website, which ranks in the top 20 websites in the world.[4] He also co-founded the airfare search engine website Hipmunk, which shut down in 2020.[5]

Early life and education

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Steve Huffman grew up in Warrenton, Virginia.[6] At age 8, he began programming computers.[6] He graduated in 2001 from Wakefield School in The Plains, Virginia.[7] At the University of Virginia (UVA), he studied computer science, graduating in 2005.[6][8]

Career

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During spring break of his senior year at UVA, Huffman and college roommate Alexis Ohanian[3] drove to Boston, Massachusetts, to attend a lecture[9] delivered by English programmer-entrepreneur Paul Graham.[3][10] Huffman and Ohanian talked with Graham after the lecture and he invited them to apply to his startup incubator Y Combinator.[3] Huffman came up with their original idea, My Mobile Menu,[10] which was intended to allow users to order food by SMS.[3][10] The idea was rejected, but Graham asked Huffman and Ohanian to meet him in Boston to pitch another idea for a start-up; it was at this brainstorming session that the idea for what Graham called the "front page of the Internet" was created.[3] Huffman and Ohanian were accepted in Y Combinator's first class.[3][10] Huffman programmed the entire site in Lisp.[11][12] He and Ohanian launched Reddit in June 2005, funded by Y Combinator.[8][13]

The site's audience grew rapidly in its first few months, and by August 2005, Huffman noticed their habitual user-base had grown so large that he no longer needed to fill the front page with content himself.[11][14][15] Huffman and Ohanian sold Reddit to Condé Nast on October 31, 2006, for a reported $10 million to $20 million.[3][16] Huffman remained with Reddit until 2009, when he left his role as acting CEO.[17]

Huffman spent several months backpacking in Costa Rica[18] before co-creating the travel website Hipmunk with Adam Goldstein, an author and software developer, in 2010. Funded by Y Combinator,[19][20] Hipmunk launched in August 2010[21] with Huffman as CTO.[22] In 2011, Inc. named Huffman to its 30 under 30 list.[22]

In 2014, Huffman said that his decision to sell Reddit had been a mistake, and that the site's growth had exceeded his expectations.[23] On July 10, 2015, Reddit hired Huffman as CEO following the resignation of Ellen Pao[24] and during a particularly difficult time for the company.[25] Upon rejoining the company, Huffman's top goals included launching Reddit's iOS and Android apps, fixing Reddit's mobile website, and creating A/B testing infrastructure.[3]

Since returning to Reddit, Huffman instituted a number of technological changes including an updated mobile site and stronger infrastructure, as well as new content guidelines. These included a ban on content that incites violence, quarantining some material users might find offensive, and removing communities "that exist solely to ... make Reddit worse for everyone else".[3][25] Shortly after returning, Huffman wrote that "neither Alexis nor I created Reddit to be a bastion of free speech, but rather as a place where open and honest discussion can happen."[26] In a 2012 interview, Ohanian had used the phrase "bastion of free speech" specifically to describe Reddit, as noted by The New Yorker and The Verge.[18][27]

Huffman also worked to make the site more advertiser-friendly[3][25] and led efforts to host videos and images on site.[28] In late 2016, Huffman was the focus of controversy for altering posts on a subreddit popular with supporters of Donald Trump, /r/The Donald. Following criticism from Reddit users, he undid the change and issued an apology.[29] Beginning in 2017, Huffman led the redesign of Reddit's website with its first major visual update in a decade.[30][31] Huffman said the site had looked like a "dystopian Craigslist" whose outdated look deterred new users.[30] Development of the new site took more than a year, and the redesign launched in April 2018.[30]

In 2020, Fortune magazine included him in their '40 Under 40' listing in the technology category.[32]

In anticipation to Reddit's initial public offering, it was revealed that Huffman’s compensation package for 2023 was worth $193.2 million, which included a salary of $341,346, stock awards worth $98.3 million and stock options valued at $93.8 million.[33]

Controversies and criticism

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Comment modification controversy

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On November 23, 2016, a member of a subreddit dedicated to Donald Trump, r/The_Donald, posted evidence indicating that Reddit administrators had modified multiple user comments inside the subreddit.[34] Following this post, Huffman took responsibility for the comment modifications, writing that "Our community team is pretty pissed at me, so I most assuredly won't do this again."[35][36] His administrative modifications involved changing one specific insulting phrase, in several comments, to make them appear as if the insults were directed toward the moderators of the subreddit instead of him.[37] In a Reddit post, Huffman wrote that he "messed with" some of the comments but that he "restored the original comments after less than an hour."[38] On November 30, 2016, Huffman announced that sticky posts from r/The_Donald would no longer show up on r/all, stating that the community's moderators were abusing the feature in order to "slingshot posts into r/all, often in a manner that is antagonistic to the rest of the community."[39][40]

Black Lives Matter

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On June 1, 2020, Huffman published an open letter as Reddit's CEO, titled "Remember to be Human - Black lives matter",[41] which addressed the topic of racism on the platform.

Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao called out Huffman's letter with a tweet on her official Twitter profile, saying that Reddit had long condoned racism and that the platform "monetizes white supremacy". The popular NBA and NFL subreddits agreed with Pao, obscuring their sections for 24 hours.[42] Alexis Ohanian resigned on June 5, 2020, asking to be replaced by a black director and urging the company to finally ban hate speech and hate communities on Reddit in an open letter.[43]

2023 API changes

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Further information: 2023 Reddit API controversy

In April 2023, Reddit announced changes in its API rules.[44] In response to the announced plan to begin charging some third-party apps for access to its API, several third-party apps, including Apollo, announced that they would shut down services.[45] The announced changes led to planning for protests across the platform scheduled for June 12, 2023, including several thousand subreddits temporarily switching to private-only access for 48 hours.[46][47][48]

"Fuck spez!" written by Reddit users across the July 2023 canvas of r/place

In response, Huffman held an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on June 9, 2023;[49] according to Wes Davis at The Verge, "Huffman was met with seemingly universal anger" and "If there are positive comments, I didn't find them."[48] During the AMA, Huffman said the plan to begin charging some apps for access to the Reddit API on July 1, 2023, and to limit third-party app access to mature content from Reddit was still scheduled to happen.[50] After the AMA, some subreddits announced their suspension of public access would be indefinite, until API policy issues were addressed.[48]

In July 2023, Reddit relaunched its popular r/place experience in the midst of the API changes controversy, sparking mass protests on the page regarding Huffman and his reddit account, u/spez, with the slogan "Fuck Spez!" featuring repeatedly and noticeably, including similar sentiments expressed in other languages.[51][52][53]

Net neutrality activism

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Huffman is an advocate for net neutrality rules.[54][55] In 2017, Huffman told The New York Times that without net neutrality protections, "you give internet service providers the ability to choose winners and losers".[54] On Reddit, Huffman urged redditors to express support for net neutrality and contact their elected representatives in Washington, D.C.[55] Huffman said that the repeal of net neutrality rules stifles competition. He said he and Reddit would continue to advocate for net neutrality.[56]

Personal life

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Huffman lives in San Francisco, California.[57] He mentors aspiring programmers at coding bootcamps including Hackbright Academy.[58] Huffman was an instructor for e-learning courses on web development by Udacity.[59][60][61] He is on the board of advisors for the Anti-Defamation League's Center for Technology and Society.[62]

Huffman is a ballroom dancer.[57][12] At UVA, Huffman competed in intercollegiate competitions.[57][12] Huffman married in 2009, but they are now divorced.[63] He has a daughter with his fiancée.[64]

References

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  1. ^ "Steve Huffman on His Plans to Take Reddit Public and Why He Thinks TikTok Should Be Banned". GQ. April 19, 2023. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  2. ^ Huffman, Steve (April 26, 2021). "who was going to tell me this". /r/lansing on Reddit. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hempel, Jessi (October 6, 2015). "Inside Reddit's plan to recover from its epic meltdown". Wired. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  4. ^ "The top 500 sites on the web". Alexa Internet. Archived from the original on July 15, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  5. ^ Baran, Michelle (January 18, 2020). "RIP Hipmunk, the Travel Booking Site That Took the "Agony" out of Search". AFAR Media. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Jaffee, Michelle Koidin (Fall 2014). "The Voice of His Generation". Virginia. Archived from the original on March 10, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  7. ^ "The Odyssey of an Alum". Wakefield School. May 3, 2016. Archived from the original on September 15, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  8. ^ a b Zak Richards. "Unleashing High-Profile, High-Profit Websites". Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  9. ^ Williams, Michelle (August 2015). "'This internet thing is not a fad': Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to discuss online entrepreneurship at UMass Amherst". Mass Live. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  10. ^ a b c d Fink, Steve (August 2015). "Mr. Meme". Baltimore. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  11. ^ a b "Live Episode! Reddit: Alexis Ohanian & Steve Huffman". How I Built This With Guy Raz. August 31, 2017. NPR.
  12. ^ a b c Wallace, Benjamin (October 6, 2015). "Can Steve Huffman Save Reddit From Itself?". New York. Archived from the original on March 29, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  13. ^ Macale, Sherilynn "Cheri" (October 14, 2011). "A rundown of Reddit's history and community [Infographic]". The Next Web Social Media. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
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  19. ^ "About Hipmunk". Hipmunk. August 1, 2010. Archived from the original on June 16, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  20. ^ Leena Rao (August 1, 2010). "Reddit Co-Founder Dips Back Into Y Combinator With Travel Startup Hipmunk". Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  21. ^ Pepitone, Julianne (August 19, 2010). "Hipmunk's dazzling new view of flight search". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on April 25, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  22. ^ a b "Adam Goldstein and Steve Huffman, Founders of Hipmunk". Inc.com. June 27, 2011. Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  23. ^ Matthew Hall (December 10, 2014). "'Atrocious, mobile sucks': Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman on what site has become". The Age. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  24. ^ Issac, Mike (July 10, 2015). "Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit's Chief". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  25. ^ a b c Lagorio-Chafkin, Christine (March 9, 2018). "Steve Huffman Talks About Bringing Reddit Back From the Brink". Inc. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
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  28. ^ Shaw, Dougal (June 2, 2016). "Reddit plans to host videos on its site". BBC News. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  29. ^ Roisin Kiberd (December 5, 2016). "'Spezgiving': How Reddit's CEO Tried And Failed to Troll the Trolls". Motherboard. Vice. Archived from the original on December 18, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  30. ^ a b c Pardes, Arielle (April 2, 2018). "The inside story of Reddit's redesign". Wired. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  31. ^ Loten, Angus (April 10, 2018). "Reddit CEO revamped outdated website from the IT foundations". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  32. ^ "Steve Huffman | 2020 40 under 40 in Tech". Fortune. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  33. ^ Spangler, Todd (February 22, 2024). "Reddit Discloses Finances in IPO Filing, Will Let Influential Moderators and Users Buy Shares at Offering Price". Variety. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  34. ^ Menegus, Bryan (November 24, 2016). "Reddit CEO Caught Secretly Editing User Comments, Chatlogs Leaked [Update]". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on November 24, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  35. ^ Yeung, Ken. "Reddit CEO apologizes for editing comments critical of him following Pizzagate ban". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on November 24, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  36. ^ Russell, Jon. "Reddit CEO admits he secretly edited comments from Donald Trump supporters". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on November 24, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  37. ^ Weingerger, Matt. "The CEO of Reddit confessed to modifying posts from Trump supporters after they wouldn't stop sending him expletives". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 24, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  38. ^ Chaitin, Daniel (November 25, 2016). "Reddit CEO admits editing pro-Trump users' comments". Washington Examiner. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  39. ^ Lecher, Colin (November 30, 2016). "Reddit will punish hundreds of 'toxic users' and hide some posts from pro-Trump community". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  40. ^ Lee, Dave (November 30, 2016). "Reddit moves against 'toxic' Trump fans". BBC News. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  41. ^ Huffman, Steve (June 1, 2020). "Remember the Human – Black Lives Matter". Upvoted. Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  42. ^ Collins, Katie (June 2, 2020). "Reddit slammed by former CEO Ellen Pao for 'amplifying' racism and hate". CNET. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  43. ^ "Alexis Ohanian Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on December 30, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
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  47. ^ Bell, Karissa (June 8, 2023). "Reddit CEO will host an AMA on API changes as thousands of subreddits plan to 'go dark'". Engadget. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  48. ^ a b c Davis, Wes (June 10, 2023). "Reddit's users and moderators are revolting against its CEO". The Verge. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  49. ^ Peters, Jay (June 9, 2023). "Reddit won't budge on the API changes that are shutting down apps like Apollo". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  50. ^ Kan, Michael (June 9, 2023). "Reddit CEO: We're Sticking With API Changes, Despite Subreddits Going Dark". PCMag. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  51. ^ Peters, Jay (July 20, 2023). "Reddit's r/Place is going about as well as expected". The Verge. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  52. ^ "Reddit API protest continues on r/place as users hit out at CEO". Dexerto. July 20, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  53. ^ Lausson, Julien (July 25, 2023). "r/Place se finit avec des pixels en noir et blanc et un ultime " fuck Spez "". Numerama (in French). Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  54. ^ a b Kang, Cecilia (December 14, 2017). "F.C.C. repeals net neutrality rules". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  55. ^ a b Ingram, Mathew (December 6, 2017). "Reddit flexes its muscle over net neutrality". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on March 12, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
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  57. ^ a b c Osnos, Evan (January 30, 2017). "Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  58. ^ Truong, Alice (December 17, 2013). ""Become an iOS developer in 8 weeks": The truth about hack schools". Fast Company. Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
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  61. ^ O'Neill, Megan (June 19, 2012). "Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman sheds light on the early days". Adweek. Archived from the original on October 9, 2018. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
  62. ^ Carson, Erin (November 13, 2017). "Anti-Defamation League taps tech giants to fight hate". CNet. Archived from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  63. ^ "Can Steve Huffman Save Reddit From Itself?". Intelligencer. October 6, 2015. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  64. ^ Hoyle, Ben (April 17, 2021). "Meet Steve Huffman, co-founder of Reddit, the world's most influential website". The Times. Archived from the original on September 7, 2024.
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