Ellen Pao served as the interim CEO of Reddit from 2014 to 2015. During her tenure, Reddit banned several large communities, including r/fatpeoplehate, for violating their terms of service. This subreddit, which was dedicated to disparaging overweight individuals, was one of the most active and popular on the site. Following this action, Pao was widely criticized and compared to a dictator, with many users accusing her of censorship.

In July 2015, Victoria Taylor, who coordinated Reddit's IAMAS, was dismissed, and Pao was blamed for this as well. Protests and attack campaigns against Pao ensued, eventually leading to her resignation.

However, years later, it was revealed that Pao was not responsible for these actions. She was not the one who fired Taylor - that was Alexis Ohanian, Reddit's founder and Executive Chairman, who had more authority than Pao. Furthermore, Pao was not in favor of banning subreddits. She had voiced her opposition to this, but was overruled by Ohanian and Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman (aka spezz). Despite this, Pao was unfairly blamed and criticized for these decisions.