What happened
On October 4, 2022, Reddit announced it was bringing on the team behind Oterlu, a Gothenburg, Sweden startup that built machine-learning-powered content-moderation tools. Founded in 2019 by former Google Trust and Safety lead Alexander Gee along with Ludvig Gee and Sebastian Nabrink, Oterlu specialized in models that could detect harmful content quickly and accurately across multiple languages. Reddit described the deal as an acqui-hire, folding the Oterlu team into its Safety organization.
The stated goal was to develop native machine-learning moderation models and new safety tooling for Reddit's volunteer moderators, strengthening the platform's ability to catch abuse, harassment, and other rule-breaking content at scale and in many languages. The acquisition fit a clear 2022 pattern — following the purchases of Spell and Spiketrap — in which Reddit rapidly assembled in-house AI expertise spanning product, advertising, and trust-and-safety. Improved multilingual moderation also dovetailed with Reddit's later international ambitions, including its AI-powered machine-translation push that aimed to make the platform usable and safe for non-English-speaking communities worldwide.