Looking back, Brutsch said his actions “were a huge mistake.” He claimed he was addicted to Reddit and could not stop himself. The biggest thrill Brutsch said he got “was those meaningless Internet points,” earned when “Redditors” voted for his posts.
Now that he’s lost his job, Brutsch told CNN he was sorry – but he didn’t say exactly what he was apologizing for.
“Well, I am to some degree apologizing for what I did,” Brutsch said. “Again, I was playing to an audience of college kids. And you know, when two years ago, when all of this was at its height, the audience was appreciative and supportive of the sort of gallows humor that I put out there.”
Legal analysts are split on whether Reddit is breaking any laws by allowing its users to post such heinous images. Reddit stressed in its email to CNN that it “follows all the legal requirements regarding illegal content, including reporting to the proper authorities.
“By its nature, moderators at Reddit have complete control over the subsections they start unless they violate site rules or the law,” it said.
CNN legal contributor Sunny Hostin said she believes the website is hosting “borderline kiddie porn.” CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin noted that while the website may not be breaking any criminal laws, its claim that it cannot interfere with its posters because they are protected by the First Amendment is “not true.”
“If I say something terrible to you on the phone, you can sue me – you can’t sue the phone company,” Toobin explained on CNN’s AC360 last year. “A website is different. A website automatically exercises some control. You can see they have rules there. So the idea that they have no control over their posters, that’s simply wrong.”
Brutsch has not been charged with a crime. He was, however, questioned by police because of assertions that he had sex with his stepdaughter. He said it’s not true.
