Most of us are probably familiar with Reddit. It’s pretty much the one-stop shop you would go to if you’re seeking out like-minded people for your hobbies, interests, or if you want actual anecdotes from people on products you’re thinking of buying. However, Reddit wasn’t always the frontpage of the internet. Back in the heydays, Reddit had a competitor in Digg . Now interestingly enough, both companies’ original founders have joined forces to relaunch Digg .
Digg and Reddit founders join forces
Back in 2012, Digg was split into multiple parts. Some of it was sold to Betaworks, an incubator, while the rest were snapped up by other companies like LinkedIn and the Washington Post. However, in 2025, Digg original founder Kevin Rose was joined by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to buy back the company .
Now with the company back under his control, Rose and Ohanian have announced the open beta for the newly-relaunched Digg. In a way, if you’ve used Reddit, then this shouldn’t be too dissimilar of an experience. There are multiple communities that you can find and join depending on your interest. You can also post, comment, upvote, and so on.
Both platforms were fierce rivals back in the day. Digg launched first followed by Reddit shortly after. However, several missteps led to Digg falling behind and allowed Reddit to dominate the space.
But why come back now?
It’s hard to imagine an internet without Reddit. This makes us wonder how will the new Digg convince users to jump ship? Turns out, we might have AI to thank for this . It turns out that Rose and Ohanian believe that with AI tools, they will be able to better address the toxicity of today’s social media scene.
They also want to tackle the issue with bots that are flooding not just Reddit, but X as well. This means that instead of using simple checkmarks that verify users, the company wants to leverage new technologies like zero-knowledge proofs as a form of verification. They are also considering proof-of-ownership as a means of verification as well. For example, if you’re joining a community based around a certain product, you have to show proof you own it if you want to post in it.
