Digg lays off employees and stops the program as a company tool

Digg – Kevin Rose restart it on its once-popular link-sharing website — is laying off many of its employees, the company announced Friday. The startup isn’t closing, however, Digg CEO Justin Mezzell said. Instead, Rose will return to work at Digg full-time as the company tries to find its footing.

Rose will continue to work as a consultant at the venture capital firm True Ventures, but will make Digg his focus from now on.

The startup wanted to provide an alternative to existing community forums, where people could post and share links, media, articles, and participate in discussions. But while Digg had some smart ideas about how to improve ratings and ensure that users are who they claim to be, the company admits it was overwhelmed by bots even in its early days.

Nodding”the dead internet theory“saying that today’s web is more bots than people, Mezzell describes the problem of combating bot spam in a post. Digg’s website.

“When Digg beta was launched, we immediately saw posts from SEO spammers and realized that Digg still had a link to Google,” the blog said of the removal. “Within hours, we heard what we had only heard rumors about. The internet is now full of AI agents and computer accounts. We knew bots were part of the landscape, but we didn’t appreciate the size, maturity, or speed at which they would reach us.”

The company said it suspended thousands of accounts, sent internal equipment, and worked with external vendors, but it wasn’t enough. For a site that relied on user ratings to decide its content, the bot’s default bug made those ratings unreliable.

“This isn’t just Digg’s problem. It’s the Internet’s problem,” says Mezzell.

Mezzell also noted that taking on regular enemies (perhaps a reference to Reddit) was more difficult, calling the competition not a moat but a wall.

The company didn’t share how many people were affected by the layoffs, but said a small team will continue to rebuild Digg as “a truly different entity.” The Digg app has been removed from the App Store, and the stoppage post is the only one on Digg’s website. The Diggnation podcast – a video featuring Rose’s hosts – will continue.

In the news, Rose is Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian found what was left of the old Digg earlier last year, it wants to build a site where communities have moderators and administrators and ownership. The deal was a successful acquisition involving True Ventures, Ohanian’s company Seven Seven Six, Rose and Ohanian, and the company S32. Financial details have not been disclosed to the public.

Digg was not immediately available for comment.