Reddit is a social media platform with a community-driven forum that’s made up of different pages called subreddits. These can have all kinds of topics on which people can vote or comment.
Reddit is not a suitable platform for all ages. Users can post almost any text, video, image, link, or poll. Here’s what information the platform collects about them.
Account details
Account information includes the username, email address, and avatar. If you don’t use email to verify your account, Reddit will not collect it. The platform lets users determine whether other people can see new content posted by them or search for their usernames on the site. Users can choose to make their posts and comments private. It follows that if you want to find someone on Reddit, you might have your work cut out for you. It’s certainly possible with the right tools, though.
Activity details
Reddit collects information about your activity on the platform, such as saving, voting, reporting, hiding, joining communities, following people, and subscriptions to the premium version of the site. It gathers data on your posts, private messages, comments, chats, saved drafts, and mod mail.
Billing details
If you buy something on Reddit, the platform will collect billing details like your name, address, purchase details, and the type of payment made.
Location data
Data from the user’s cell phone will be collected if they decide to share their location with Reddit. The IP address can indicate the approximate location.
Information about usage
This includes information about how Reddit is accessed and used, such as your browser type, device, login and IP information, search terms, and operating system.
Data from cookies
This data includes language preferences and lets Reddit identify your device to personalize ads and recommendations.
Information from third parties
Reddit’s advertising partners get information about your interests or demographic data. Pages you open on a partner site become known to Reddit. They also obtain data from third-party apps to which you’ve granted access to your account.
Is Reddit safe?
The site has sufficient security to keep cybercriminals at bay. Still, it’s a common hacker target because it’s among the most visited websites worldwide.
The good news is that you aren’t required to provide too many personal details to open a Reddit account. The platform records information about your location, but it makes sure others can’t see it.
It’s very common for users to chat publicly. You can ask questions, receive answers, share content, create a subreddit, or contribute to an existing one. The interactions on the platform are not unlike those early internet users had.
If you still have safety concerns, you can take measures like using a VPN. Some parents resort to it if they’re worried about the safety of their children.
Final thoughts
It would be best if you didn’t trust everything you see on the platform. A lot of the content is for adults only or censored. There is some fake news on the site as well.
