Two decades after igniting the social news revolution, Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian are resurrecting Digg as a direct challenger to Reddit. On Wednesday, the rebooted platform flung open its doors to the public in open beta, shedding its invite-only restrictions that had limited access to 67,000 users. This move marks a pivotal escalation in their bid to recapture the spirit of early internet communities, armed with modern AI tools and a mobile-first ethos.

The relaunch, first teased in March 2025 when Rose and Ohanian reacquired the Digg brand, has progressed through phases of early access—including a $5 paid tier in April 2025 that drew significant interest. Now fully public, Digg aims to differentiate itself with enhanced moderation powered by artificial intelligence, transparent community governance, and features tailored for today’s fragmented digital attention spans. TechCrunch reported the shift from closed beta, highlighting the platform’s evolution under its original founder and a Reddit co-founder turned collaborator.

Roots in Web 2.0 Glory

Digg burst onto the scene in 2004 as a pioneer of user-driven content curation, where readers submitted and voted on links to surface the web’s most compelling stories. Its iconic ‘Digg This’ button became a staple, but internal missteps and the 2010 redesign—derided as the ‘Digg v4 disaster’—propelled users to fledgling alternatives like Reddit. Rose sold Digg in 2012, watching it fade into obscurity before buying it back last year with Ohanian’s backing.

Ohanian, who co-founded Reddit in 2005 partly in response to Digg’s dominance, brings battle-tested insights from scaling one of the internet’s last independent giants before its 2024 public listing. Their partnership, forged from rival histories, promises a platform that learns from past failures. As Ohanian posted on X in March 2025, ‘The early web was fun. It was weird. It was community-driven. It’s time to rebuild that.’ Digiday detailed the acquisition, noting the mobile-first design and AI integrations from the outset.

Technical Overhaul for Modern Battles

At its core, the new Digg emphasizes ‘humanity and connection,’ per early announcements. AI assists moderators in flagging toxic content and surfacing high-quality posts, while users gain tools for custom communities—long a Reddit staple but now with promised transparency. Rose has teased features ‘that weren’t even possible with yesterday’s tech,’ including decentralized elements inspired by Web3 experiments. Posts on X from Digg’s official account in January 2026 hinted at imminent community creation tools.

The platform’s beta has already hosted thousands of stories across tech, science, and culture, with voting mechanics refined to prevent brigading. Unlike Reddit’s sprawling subreddits, Digg starts leaner, focusing on algorithmic feeds that prioritize relevance over recency. The Verge covered the initial relaunch plans, stressing AI’s role in moderation to foster healthier discourse.

Strategic Positioning Against Reddit

Reddit, now valued at over $10 billion post-IPO, faces criticism for commercialization and moderation inconsistencies, creating an opening for rivals. Digg’s public beta arrives amid Reddit’s own AI partnerships, like with Google, positioning the reboot as a purist alternative. Over 175,000 early sign-ups signal pent-up demand, as noted by Entrepreneur in March 2025.

Rose, a serial entrepreneur with ventures like Milk and Prove, views Digg not as nostalgia but ‘a necessary evolution.’ Ohanian echoes this, declaring himself ‘all in on this chapter.’ Their combined networks—Rose’s podcast influence via Foundation and Ohanian’s venture clout through Seven Seven Six—could fuel rapid growth. Recent X activity from both founders underscores momentum, with Rose affirming on January 11, 2026, ‘it’s far easier to scale something than to launch something worth scaling.’

Monetization and Growth Tactics

Early access via paid invites generated buzz and revenue, but the open beta pivots to freemium models, with premium features for power users. Advertisers eye Digg’s targeted communities, free from Reddit’s ad saturation complaints. The platform integrates seamlessly with mobile wallets and social logins, lowering barriers in a TikTok-dominated era.

Challenges loom: user acquisition costs are steep, and network effects favor incumbents. Yet Digg’s founders leverage personal brands—Rose’s 1.5 million X followers and Ohanian’s activist profile—to bootstrap virality. TechCrunch chronicled the paid beta launch, revealing early adopter enthusiasm.

Community Governance Innovations

Digg 3.0 introduces ‘Chad the Bird,’ a mascot nodding to Reddit’s Snoo, in teaser posts signaling rebellious vibes. Official X updates on January 14, 2026, revisited Digg’s origin story, building hype. Users can now submit stories publicly, with AI-vetted feeds promising less noise.

Moderation blends human oversight with AI, aiming to avoid Reddit’s ban waves that drove users away. Rose’s 2021 X post on Digg’s original ‘illusion’ of decentralization informs this push toward genuine user control. The New York Times profiled the revival as a Web 2.0 star’s return, teaming with Reddit’s founder.

Investor Backing and Road Ahead

Ohanian’s firm led funding, blending his $150 million Seven Seven Six portfolio with Rose’s angel syndicate. No public valuation yet, but parallels to Reddit’s pre-IPO trajectory suggest nine-figure potential if traction builds. Metrics from beta: 67,000 invites exhausted quickly, per TechCrunch.

Competitors like Hacker News and Lobsters watch closely, but Digg’s celebrity duo sets it apart. As X posts from Digg ramp up—’Community creation on Digg is coming soon?!’ on January 7—signs point to aggressive iteration. Mashable guided sign-ups, underscoring the platform’s humanity focus.

Lessons from Rival Histories

Rose’s Digg exit taught scalability pitfalls; Ohanian’s Reddit sale to Advance Publications in 2006, then buyback saga, honed resilience. Their March 2025 X announcements—Rose on dreaming new features, Ohanian on rebuilding fun—galvanized 300,000+ impressions. BroBible captured the ‘new, better social platform’ pitch in its coverage.

The open beta tests real-world viability: will ex-Reddit exiles migrate? Early indicators from X sentiment lean positive, with users praising cleaner interfaces. As Digg scales, expect feature drops like live events and creator tools to solidify its niche.