Which Reddit admin was fired in 2015, leading to a widespread blackout of subreddits?

Victoria Taylor was the Reddit administrator fired in 2015 whose dismissal helped trigger a widespread subreddit blackout.

Taylor worked as Reddit's director of talent and became especially well known as the staff liaison for r/IAmA, Reddit's “Ask Me Anything” community. She helped coordinate guests, verify participants, arrange schedules, and make celebrity interviews run smoothly.

On July 2, 2015, moderators of r/IAmA set the subreddit to private after learning that Taylor had been dismissed without warning. Hundreds of other communities followed, creating a site-wide protest often nicknamed “AMAgeddon.” The blackout also reflected broader anger about communication between Reddit's administrators and volunteer moderators.

A common mix-up is Ellen Pao, Reddit's interim CEO at the time. Many users initially blamed Pao for Taylor's firing, but later accounts attributed the decision to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, with responsibility and internal decision-making remaining controversial. Pao resigned shortly afterward, on July 10, 2015.