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Petition For Reddit CEO To Quit Hits 165,000

Petition For Reddit CEO To Quit Hits 165,000

An online petition calling for Reddit chief executive Ellen Pao to resign in the wake of the sacking of a popular staff member has grown to more than 165,000 signatures.

On Friday, unpaid moderators of some of the link-sharing sites most-read sections temporarily hid them from public view in protest at the dismissal of Reddit employee Victoria Taylor.

Ms Taylor, talent director at the San Francisco-based company, who went under the user name /u/chooter, was in charge of the "ask me anything" (AMA) question and answer sessions which have seen the likes of Barack Obama and Bill Gates grilled by Reddit users.

She has not said why she was fired, but answered a question on the site to say she was "dazed" by the decision.

Ms Pao apologised for the company's handling of Ms Taylor's dismissal over the weekend and promised better tools for moderators.

She told NPR: "We have apologised for not communicating better with the moderators.

"They should have been told earlier about the transition and we should have provided more detail on the transition plan."

The petition saw the number of signatories climb over the weekend.

It reads: "A vast majority of the Reddit community believes that Pao, 'a manipulative individual who will sue her way to the top', has overstepped her boundaries and fears that she will run Reddit into the ground.

"Action must be taken to prevent Reddit from being further run into the ground."

Reddit has around 163 million monthly unique users.

It recently appointed Ms Pao as chief executive and last month she banned five forums in a harassment crackdown .

She was recently left with a £543,000 legal bill after losing a discrimination case against her former employer.