Former Reddit CEO says free speech advocates 'just want to be able to use racial slurs'

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Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao revealed this week what she really thinks is driving advocates of free speech: the desire to use racist slurs.

"At the end of the day, the free-speechers really just want to be able to use racist slurs. [Content warning]: racism, immaturity, stupidity, and even more racism and extreme stupidity," the liberal businesswoman wrote in a Tuesday tweet.

Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao claimed in an April 5, 2022 tweet that advocates of free speech just wanted to be able to use racial slurs. (Screenshot/Twitter)

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She included what appeared to be an image of an email with random words seemingly intended to mock Asian-Americans, suggesting it was sent to her by someone to be racially abusive.

"They really don't care about sharing new ideas or encouraging freedom other than the freedom to harass other people off the platform," she added in an additional tweet.

Pao then tweeted another image of Twitter users "liking" replies to her tweet that accused her of sending the message to herself or claiming it wasn't actually an email, but rather something typed up as a Microsoft Word document.

Ellen Pao speaks to the media in San Francisco, California, March 27, 2015. (Reuters/Beck Diefenbach)

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Pao's tweet elicited criticism from other users, including journalist Glenn Greenwald, who argued free speech had a "more substantive history" than what she claimed it to be.

"I think it's a bit of an exaggeration -- just a bit -- to proclaim the only reason people believe in free speech is they want to spout adolescent racist slurs. I believe that, historically speaking, this concept has a somewhat broader and more substantive history than this," he tweeted.

Columnist Larry O'Connor expressed shock that Pao appeared to be against free-speech, writing, "Um... Are you *NOT* a ‘free-speecher?'"

Journalist Glenn Greenwald criticized former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao in an April 6, 2022 tweet over the latter's claim that free speech advocates just wanted to be able to use racial slurs. (Screenshot/Twitter) (Screenshot/Twitter)

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This isn't the first instance in which Pao has made a controversial claim about race. In 2020, she accused her former company, Reddit, of amplifying "hate" and "racism," as well as nurturing and monetizing "white supremacy" by not shutting down certain threads.

Pao resigned as the company's interim CEO in 2015 amid criticism over free speech limits on the platform.