Hi everyone, I’m aka Ben Lee, Reddit’s Chief Legal Officer, and I’m sharing a heads-up on an important Supreme Court case in the United States that could significantly impact freedom of expression online around the world.
TL;DR
In 2021, Texas and Florida passed laws (Texas House Bill 20 and Florida Senate Bill 7072) trying to restrict how platforms – and their users – can moderate content, with the goal of prohibiting “censorship” of other viewpoints. While these laws were written for platforms very different from Reddit, they could have serious consequences for our users and the broader Internet.
We’re standing up for the First Amendment rights of Redditors to define their own content rules in their own spaces in an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief we filed in the Supreme Court in the and cases. You can see our brief . I’m here to answer your questions and encourage you to crosspost in your communities for further discussion.
While these are US state laws, their impact would be felt by all Internet users. They would allow a single, government-defined model for online expression to replace the community-driven content moderation approaches of online spaces like Reddit, making content on Reddit--and the Internet as a whole--less relevant and more open to harassment.
This isn’t hypothetical: in 2022, a Reddit user in Texas sued us under the Texas law (HB 20) after he was banned by the moderators of the community. He had posted a disparaging comment about the Star Trek character Wesley Crusher (calling him a “soy boy”), which earned him a ban under the community’s rule to “be nice.” (It is the height of irony that a comment about Wil Wheaton’s character would violate of “don’t be a dick.”) Instead of taking his content elsewhere, or starting his own community, this user sued Reddit, asking the court to reinstate him in and award him monetary damages. While we were able to stand up for the moderators of and get the case dismissed (on procedural grounds), the Supreme Court is reviewing these laws and will decide whether they comply with the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Our experience with HB 20 demonstrates the potential impact of these laws on shared online communities as well as the sort of frivolous litigation they incentivize.
If these state laws are upheld, our community moderators could be forced to keep up content that is irrelevant, harassing, or even harmful. Imagine if every cat community was forced to accept random dog-lovers’ comments. Or if the subreddit devoted to your local city had to keep up irrelevant content about other cities or topics. What if every comment that violated a subreddit’s specific moderation rules had to be left up? You can check out the for even more examples (they filed their brief independently from us, and it includes examples of the types of content that they remove from their communities–and that these laws would require them to leave up).
Every community on Reddit gets to define what content they embrace and reject through their upvotes and downvotes, and the rules their volunteer moderators set and enforce. It is not surprising that one of the most common community rules is some form of “be civil,” since most communities want conversations that are civil and respectful. And as Reddit the company, we believe our users should always have that right to create and curate online communities without government interference.
Although this case is still ultimately up to the Supreme Court (oral argument will be held on February 26 – you can listen live on the day), your voice matters. If you’re in the US, you can call your or to make your voice heard.
This is a lot of information to unpack, so I’ll stick around for a bit to answer your questions.
We can’t imagine a Reddit IPO without redditors You Rickrolled Rick Astley. You gave us Mr. Splashy Pants. And … (you’re welcome, internet). And now you can become one of our (non-corporate) overlords. Yes, it’s really happening this time, and as we take the next step toward becoming a public company, we’re inviting all eligible redditors to participate in Reddit’s IPO.
“Eligible” you note skeptically? Yes. Unfortunately, there are a ton of imposed legal restrictions defining when, who, and how we do this. So while our goal is to give all redditors the same access to stock as institutional investors (why should they have all the fun?), our lawyercats tell us we must follow specific rules listed below.
Our Directed Share Program (“DSP”) is set up to let eligible users and moderators own a piece of Reddit by purchasing Reddit stock at the same price as institutional investors when we IPO. We will offer this opportunity to as many redditors as we are able to accommodate, and the number of people who can participate is limited.
As much as we’d like to, we are limited from sharing more or answering questions. But if you are interested in learning about how to participate in Reddit’s DSP, please see more information .
Prospectus and Important Disclosures
The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus, when available, may be obtained from: Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10014, telephone: 1-866-718-1649, or email: ; Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, New York 10282, telephone: 1-866-471-2526, facsimile: 212-902-9316, or email: ; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, telephone: 1-866-803-9204, or email: ; and BofA Securities, Inc., NC1-004-03-43, 200 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, North Carolina 28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department, telephone: 1-800-294-1322, or email: .
A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This notification shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
No offer to buy the securities can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received until the registration statement has become effective, and any such offer may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time prior to the notice of its acceptance given after the effective date. An indication of interest in response to this notification will involve no obligation or commitment of any kind.