The White House has officially launched a Reddit account, focusing on sharing critical information about hurricane relief efforts. Although the account, u/whitehouse, was created on January 7, 2021, following the Capitol insurrection, it had not posted publicly until today. Now, the administration is using Reddit to update the public on their response to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, both causing severe damage along the U.S. east coast.
So far, the White House has posted details about its efforts in response to Hurricane Helene, revealing that over $37 million in assistance has already been approved for more than 28,000 households. Additionally, more than 1,000 FEMA officials are actively deployed, along with 1,200 Urban Search and Rescue personnel, who have rescued or supported over 3,200 survivors.
White House Deputy Platforms Director Megan Coyne explained on X that this Reddit launch is part of a broader effort to “meet more people where they are.”
However, the White House’s initial posts on Reddit didn’t go smoothly. The moderators of the r/Georgia subreddit removed a post about Hurricane Helene’s relief efforts, though it remained live on the r/North Carolina subreddit, where moderators confirmed the account’s authenticity after receiving a message from Reddit admins. The Georgia moderators later restored the post.
Reddit has become so prominent that its content frequently appears in Google search results, prompting Google to create features to better highlight Reddit’s forum posts. The platform has also partnered with AI companies like OpenAI, allowing them to use Reddit’s content to train their AI models. Earlier this year, Reddit disclosed that it made $203 million in revenue from licensing its data to AI companies, with plans for future growth.
The White House’s use of Reddit comes as Hurricane Milton, a category 4 storm, bears down on Florida’s west coast, forcing mandatory evacuations. The administration will likely continue using the platform to share updates on their response to these natural disasters.
Featured Image courtesy of bboserup/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Follow us for more tech news updates.