- Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian have acquired Digg, the social news platform Rose co-founded in 2004, with plans to integrate AI for content moderation.
- The revitalized platform will focus on mobile users, prioritize transparency, and offer rewards for user participation, though no specific blockchain integration has been confirmed.
- Former Moonbirds executive Justin Mezzell will lead the new Digg as CEO, following Rose’s previous crypto venture that was eventually sold to Yuga Labs.
Tech entrepreneurs and crypto veterans Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian have purchased social news platform Digg, marking Rose’s return to the website he originally co-founded nearly two decades ago. The acquisition aims to transform the once-dominant platform into a modern social media destination that leverages Artificial Intelligence for moderation while keeping human connection at its core.
The partnership brings together Rose, known for co-creating the Ethereum NFT project Moonbirds, with Ohanian, whose Seven Seven Six venture fund previously invested in Rose’s crypto endeavors. Justin Mezzell, who previously served as COO at Rose’s NFT company Proof and was the artist behind the Moonbirds collection, will step in as CEO of the revitalized Digg.
“At various times over the years I had been approached to repurchase Digg; it never felt right,” Rose said in a statement. “Just recently we’ve hit an inflection point where AI can become a helpful co-pilot to users and moderators, not replacing human conversation, but rather augmenting it.”
According to the announcement, the reimagined platform will take a mobile-first approach while emphasizing transparency. The team has mentioned offering unspecified “rewards” for user participation, though representatives did not respond to inquiries about potential blockchain or cryptocurrency integration.
Ohanian, who recently joined Project Liberty’s effort to acquire TikTok for the U.S. market with plans to bring it “on-chain,” expressed his commitment to improving social platforms: “Kevin and I are here to build something better than what social platforms are offering today. AI should handle the grunt work in the background while humans focus on what they do best: building real connections.”
This venture follows a challenging period for Rose’s previous crypto project. After raising more than $60 million for Proof and Moonbirds—including $10 million from Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six—the project faced significant criticism as NFT values plummeted. Proof was ultimately sold to Yuga Labs in early 2024, with Moonbirds NFTs now trading at about $1,000 worth of ETH compared to their initial selling price of approximately $7,600 in April 2022.
The financial details of the Digg acquisition remain undisclosed. The platform is backed by Rose’s and Ohanian’s respective venture capital firms, True Ventures and Seven Seven Six. Currently, the Digg website allows potential users to register their email addresses for early access to the revamped service.
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