"The first thing we did, ban revenge porn" - Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian shares fascinating anecdote about Reddit experience

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian recently shared some fascinating anecdotes about Reddit and also addressed the controversies surrounding the social networking site. Ohanian, along with Steve Huffman and Aaron Swartz, co-founded Reddit in 2005.

In 2006, Reddit was acquired by Conde Nast Publications and then Ohanian left the company he helped build in 2010 to pursue non-profit projects and write his book. The tech entrepreneur returned to the company in 2014 as an executive chairman. In 2015, Reddit announced a change in its privacy policy, banning the posting of sexually explicit content without the consent of those depicted.

Recently while speaking on the "On Purpose with Jay Shetty" podcast, Alexis Ohanian discussed his Reddit journey and also opened up about the social media network's decision to ban "revenge porn" on the platform.

Ohanian mentioned that "radical communities" were not present when Reddit was launched in 2005, as online activity was limited at that time.

“Early on these really radical communities almost never existed. Certainly back then ‘cause there were just fewer people online, 2005 starting Reddit I was just hoping it would work. There were so few people online, actively creating content that for early years it wasn’t even a thing, never even came up. And when it did it was just an easy band ‘cause there’s a one off post,” Ohanian said [24:12].

The tech entrepreneur also revealed that his return to Reddit in 2014, after leaving in 2010, was prompted by the previous CEO controversially defending "revenge porn."

“I left in 2006 after sale to Conde Nast and asked to stuck around till 2010, then I left and went onto become a partner at Y Combinator. Started a venture fund and I came back in 2014 as executive chairman and that was in the wake of a previous CEO infamously defending revenge porn,” Serena Williams' husband continued [24:32].

Alexis Ohanian revealed that after the CEO's defense of revenge porn in a blog post, the board requested him to return. He said that after his return he immediately took action by banning revenge porn and focused on rebuilding the business and restoring the trust that users and brands had in Reddit.

“He wrote this infamous blog post defending keeping these horrible photos and that was not surprisingly one of his last acts as CEO and I was asked by the board to come back. The first thing we did, shocker, ban revenge porn. Pretty easy, very obvious thing to do. Then it was a task of, one, rebuilding the business, rebuilding the faith with users, with brands, with everyone and then starting to just modernize all the things,” Alexis Ohanian added [24:53].

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Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian: “Reddit helped me meet my wife"

Serena William & Alexis Ohanian at the 2019 Met Gala [Source: Getty]

During a panel session at the Bank of America VC Summit in New York in October last year, Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian shared the story of how he met the American tennis legend for the first time.

Ohanian revealed that his return to Reddit in 2014 as executive chairman helped him connect with Williams.

"Coming back to @reddit as exec chair for turnaround in 2014 helped me meet my wife. Ya heard it hear first!" Ohanian posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian first met in May 2015 in Rome and got engaged in 2016. Their first daughter, Olympia Ohanian, was born on September 1, 2017.

Just two months later, on November 16, Serena Williams and Ohanian tied the knot at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans. Their youngest daughter, Adira River Ohanian, was born in August 2023.