Digg, once a popular link-sharing site, is carrying out mass layoffs and shutting down its app, TechCrunch reported on March 13.

The company is not closing. Co-founder Kevin Rose (케빈 로즈) said he plans to refocus on operating Digg. Rose will keep his adviser role at Tru Ventures while making Digg a top priority.

Digg aimed to be a platform for sharing and discussing links, media and text, but it suffered from AI bots and spam attacks from its early days. Digg CEO Justin Mezzell (저스틴 메젤) said, “As soon as the Digg beta launched, SEO spammers flooded in, and it really hit home that the internet is full of AI agents and automated accounts.”

The company blocked tens of thousands of accounts but it was not enough. Mezzell stressed, “This is not just Digg’s problem, but the problem of the entire internet.”

Digg also struggled to compete with existing community platforms. Mezzell did not name specific companies, but it appears he had competition with Reddit in mind. He added, “The competition was not just a moat, but a wall.”

Digg did not disclose the scale of the layoffs, but said a small team is still developing a new version. The Digg app has been removed from the App Store, and only a layoff notice remains on the Digg website. Meanwhile, Rose’s podcast, Diggnation, will continue.