Digg is back from the grave (again) and taking on Reddit: How to try the Digg beta

Before Reddit became the de facto “front page of the internet,” there was Digg. 

Digg, the crowdsourced content platform, is where “upvoting” links was popularized. However, a failed redesign wrecked the site’s popularity with its user base, who fled to Reddit – and the rest was history. Digg flailed under different curated, editorial visions and Reddit became one of the internet’s biggest websites.

Now, Digg’s original founder Kevin Rose is teaming up with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to relaunch the platform. Digg is back (again) and looking to take on Reddit with the help of the guy who founded Reddit. (Ohanian left Reddit in 2020.)

On Wednesday, the beta version of Digg officially launched to the public at Digg.com. Interested users can sign up for the beta now.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Rose shared his goals with the newly relaunched Digg of building trust with its user base and making sure it’s not overtaken by AI bots looking to manipulate the platform. For example, a Digg community for those who own a particular piece of tech hardware could be asked to prove they own said piece of technology.

At launch, the new Digg has 21 general communities around topics such as science, funny, tech, gaming, and entertainment. Around 67,000 users were invited on the platform before the public launch.

With the public launch, anyone can now sign-up and a community could be created around any specific topic or niche. However, at the time, each community can only have one manager. Digg CEO Justin Mezzell told TechCrunch that the company wanted to launch the platform and then build and ship features weekly as Digg evolves.

Digg is also launching with an AI-created podcast called Digg Daily which recaps the biggest stories on the platform each day. According to the company, it’s considering bringing in human hosts after hearing feedback from users.

Following the aforementioned failed 2010 redesign which led to the platform’s downfall, Digg has been bought and sold by various entities, until Rose and Ohanian acquired the platform and subsequently announced their intent to relaunch Digg last year.

Users can sign up for the new Digg at Digg.com now.