Reddit CEO Steve Huffman defends his $193 million compensation following backlash from unpaid moderators

While Reddit’s CEO Steve Huffman has been given a $193 million compensation package, the moderators on the platform are unpaid—and the disparity has not gone unnoticed. Since word got out about Huffman’s pay, users on Quora, Reddit, and X have been ripping into the package.

“The feel-good moment of simultaneously revealing your CEO is overpaid while your risk assessment underscores the importance of unpaid moderators,” one user wrote in a discussion post on Huffman’s pay on Reddit. One of the risk factors Reddit lists in its IPO filing is that its results and user experience could be harmed if it were unable to keep a sufficient number of “volunteer moderators.”

“When your entire business model is one pr-ck taking nearly everything,” another scoffed. “And relying on people continuing to work for free.”

Now, Huffman has defended his pay packet in a Q&A video on the platform.

But although Huffman technically answered why he was awarded $193 million last year, he avoided justifying his salary in the context that Reddit’s moderators remain unpaid.