‘It’s Not Just the Internet’: How Online Communities Like Reddit Chill Dissent

[Commentary] The irony was palpable when KotakuInAction, the hub for Gamergate on social site Reddit, was named “Subreddit of the Day.” For starters, Reddit’s own CEO, Ellen Pao, is currently in the midst of a sex discrimination lawsuit against her former employers at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. It was also International Women’s Day, and -- in case you’re just joining us -- Gamergate is an online movement that began last August as a harassment campaign against two women in the video game industry. There are important differences between the two newsy events to think about, though. Both center on communities that are uncomfortable, if not outright hostile to women, but Pao’s trial alleges institutional sexism at a place of power. Gamergate, meanwhile, has been enabled by the silence of many of those in power, but is more about popular sexism, and how it gets amplified by sites like, well, Reddit.

Video game developer Zoe Quinn, who was one of the primary targets of the Gamergate movement, made a salient point about the power of online communities. “It’s not ‘just’ the Internet,” she said. “It’s time we have our Soylent Green moment, and realize: ‘Oh my God, the Internet is people!’ It’s not some alternate universe where things don’t matter.” Last September, Reddit was looking to raise over $50 million in a funding round that included money from big venture capital players like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. This round set the company’s value at $500 million, meaning Advance’s roughly 50 percent stake in the company is worth at least $250 million. Like the companies they’ve invested in, these investors have not led the discussion about how to make online voices safer. Maybe they’re just unsure of how to proceed -- or maybe it’s because illegal activities like 2014’s celebrity phone hacks make a lot of money.