Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian is no stranger to the content moderation debate roiling social media. The popular discussion platform, which calls itself the front page of the internet, has long struggled with trolls, misinformation and extremism.
That gives Ohanian a unique perspective on the national discussion prompted by the recent expulsion of InfoWars founder Alex Jones from several platforms. And it leads him to believe that every platform ought to craft clear content moderation strategies, and have a team of employees dedicated to enforcing them.
"It's going to be imperative that every one of these social platforms understands what their role is and what their policies are so that they're not subject to the whims of whatever frenzy swirls around at a given moment," he told CNNMoney in a phone interview Monday.
Ohanian and Steve Huffman founded Reddit in 2005. The platform now has more than 330 million monthly users and some 138,000 communities dedicated to almost every possible subject. While Ohanian is no longer involved with Reddit's day-to-day operations, he remains on its board.
Last year, he married tennis superstar Serena Williams and started a family. He's also partnered with 1850, a new brand of coffee from Folgers, in launching a contest in which aspiring entrepreneurs pitch ideas and compete for mentorship and prizes.
Related: YouTube, Apple and Facebook remove content from InfoWars and Alex Jones
In recent weeks, several social media platforms including Facebook (FB) and Google's YouTube (GOOG) have suspended the personal profile of InfoWars founder Alex Jones, while Apple (AAPL) and Spotify (SPOT) removed his podcasts. InfoWars is known for spreading demonstrably false information and conspiracy theories, such as suggesting the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.
Ohanian said many of these platforms have never had to deal with this level of scrutiny. He says they may be tempted to react to issues as they arise, rather than institute a proactive policy. But it would be better, he said, to have clear policies and enforce them.
Ohanian says Reddit tries to strike a balance between being an open platform for anyone to use and prohibiting behavior like harassment. He said the company has made long-overdue policies for addressing issues like revenge porn, and it's also created "anti-evil" software to help the trust and safety team do their jobs more efficiently.
Related: Twitter admits InfoWars violated its rules, but says it will remain on the platform
While he doesn't see the furor over InfoWars being a turning point for content moderation by big tech companies, Ohanian said it's definitely a "milestone" in the evolution of social media and the policing of content.
"We're now entering an age where social media platforms have the kind of influence that traditional media did or do," Ohanian said. "As a society, we're all still wrestling with what that's going to mean for their level of moderation."
As a father, Ohanian says he'd like to see his daughter embrace social media when she's old enough. She's already got quite a presence on Instagram, where an account run by her parents has racked up an impressive 434,000 followers.
He hopes to teach her media literacy and encourage her to think critically about everything she sees online. He's particularly concerned about an emerging form of disinformation called deepfakes -- doctored videos that will eventually fool even the most expert viewers.
"The genie is out of the bottle," he said. "There's going to be a new requirement for all of us to be looking more critically. [Everyone] should look skeptically at everything they consume [and] think for themselves when they're processing all information."
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Ohanian as executive chairman of Reddit. In fact, he is a board member.
