revisions

reddit privacy policy effective Dec 18, 2013

your privacy is genuinely important to us.
here's how we manage and use your data.

1 We take protecting your privacy seriously, and we want you to understand exactly how and why we use your information. This document is our Privacy Policy, which describes what information we collect and what it's used for. It applies to all interactions with reddit.com, including content posted through iReddit, and interactions with our site through the button and widget. However, other services we own – such as redditgifts – and loosely affiliated but independent services (for instance, radio reddit) have their own terms, and you should review them on each service's respective website.

2 Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. Your use of and/or registration with reddit will constitute your agreement to our policy. If you cannot agree to the terms and conditions set forth below, please do not use our services. Additionally, our Privacy Policy is part of our User Agreement, and by using the site you agree to both.

About this Policy

3 reddit is an open platform that allows you to communicate about anything you want on any topic you want. We collect some information in order for you to have an account you can use to participate on the site, and other information that is necessary to make the service work. Our goal in developing our privacy practices is to allow your participation to remain as anonymous as you choose and we don’t sell or profit from the information you share with us.

4 We do take efforts to make sure the platform keeps working. This includes using your information, where necessary, to stop spam and gaming and other activities that violate the user agreement. We also share your information when we are legally required to do so. Please read this privacy policy carefully. It describes what information we collect, how it is used, and when it is shared so you can make smart decisions about how you use reddit! We think it strikes a good balance and respects you – our users – who make this whole thing possible. Let us know what you think.

What Information We Collect

Registration Information

5 When you create an account, you are required to provide a username and password, and may opt to provide an email address. We also log, and retain indefinitely, the IP address from which the account is initially created.

Post, Comment and Messaging Data

6 The posts and comments you make on reddit are not private, even if made to a subreddit not readily accessible to the public. This means that, by default, they are not deleted from our servers – ever – and will still be accessible after your account is deleted. However, we only save the most recent version of comments and posts, so your previous edits, once overwritten, are no longer available.

7 Your messages are generally only viewable by the parties involved, but they may be accessed internally as needed for community support. Moreover, we keep a complete log of all messages sent on our service, even when both parties later delete their accounts.

8 reddit stores the IP addresses associated with specific posts, comments, and private messages for 90 days after they are made or sent.

reddit gold

9 If you choose to upgrade to reddit gold, this status will be stored on your profile, along with the transaction number associated with the payment. However, reddit does not handle or have access to any of your payment information. For questions about how this information is stored and used, please read our third party partners’ privacy policies.

Log Data

10 Log data is certain information that is automatically collected by our systems when you visit reddit, including the type of software used to access the site (browser, operating system), the address of the external or internal page that referred you, and your IP address. This information is recorded even if you are logged out of your account. It will be deleted from our servers after 90 days.

11 As you interact with reddit as an accountholder, we save certain information about these interactions and your preferences: subscriptions, preferred language, all languages you see content in, accumulated karma, voting data, and date of last login. You may also opt to add "flair" to decorate your profile, and this will be stored as well.

How We Use or Disclose Collected Information

Our Use of Your Information Is Limited to Improving Your Experience

12 It takes a lot of work to keep our site running and prevent abuse, and we sometimes use your data in order to facilitate this. Your information is used internally only where necessary to provide our services. For instance, we keep IP addresses for 90 days in order to investigate issues with our site, track and block suspected spammers, and otherwise maintain the integrity of the community.

Your Private Information Is Never for Sale

13 This means that we will only share your personal data with your consent, and after letting you know what information will be shared and with whom, unless it is otherwise permitted in this policy. While advertisers may target their ads to the topic of a given subreddit, we do not sell or otherwise give access to any information collected about our users to any third party.

14 Anonymous, aggregated information that cannot be linked back to an individual user may be made available to third parties.

Reddit Will Not Disclose Your Information Unless Required by Law

15 We may disclose – or preserve for future disclosure – your information if we believe, after due consideration, that doing so is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation, or valid legal process. If we are going to release your information, we will do our best to provide you with notice in advance via reddit's private messaging system unless we are prohibited by court order from doing so (e.g., an order under 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b)).

Your Information May Be Disclosed By Us In An Emergency or to Keep our Services Running

16 Other extraordinary circumstances may require disclosure: we may also disclose your information when we believe it's necessary to prevent imminent and serious bodily harm to a person; to address fraud, security, or spam; or to protect our rights or property.

17 Cookies are small data files placed on your computer by websites you visit in order to help them remember certain information about you. At reddit, we set only a few cookies for tracking user preferences, authentication, and collecting anonymous analytics data. Additionally, our advertising partners set cookies. Each of these uses is described in greater detail below.

California's 'Do Not Track' law

18 reddit's website does not currently respond to a Do Not Track ("DNT") or similar signal as it awaits the results of efforts by the policy and legal community to determine the meaning of DNT and the proper way to respond. reddit does not allow other parties to collect personally identifiable information from users on reddit.

Preference Cookies

19 If you are logged out, reddit will place a simple cookie to remember if you indicate you would like to view over 18 content, or if you set a language preference. Additionally, if you vote an advertisement up or down, our third-party advertising partner, Adzerk, will set a cookie to remember your ad preferences.

20 reddit.tv will place a simple cookie to remember your channel choices, which includes the subreddits you choose as channels and how they are arranged, and your playback preferences including vote sort, autoplay, shuffle, NSFW/SFW, and whether annotations will be visible.

Authentication Cookies

21 When you log into your account, reddit will place a cookie for the sole purpose of creating this session. It contains your user id and hashed authentication information.

Analytics Cookies

22 We use a tool called Google Analytics to help us understand how users interact with our website. It tells us aggregate usage and traffic information, such as how the site was accessed, how long visitors stayed, and the number of first-time visitors to the site. By knowing how people use the site, we can make it better. To learn more about Google Analytics and how it uses your data, please visit http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html.

Advertising Cookies

23 We partner with Adzerk to show our users third party ads.

24 Some cookies may be placed during the provision of this service pursuant to Adzerk's privacy policy.

Disabling cookies

25 Most browsers include an option to clear existing cookies or reject new ones. However, if you do this, portions of the reddit website may not function as intended.

Account Deletion

26 You may choose to delete your reddit account at any time. The usernames associated with deleted accounts remain unavailable for others to use, and your public profile is no longer visible to users of the site. However, the posts and content you made during your tenure as a reddit user will not be automatically deleted as part of the account removal process, though your username will be publicly disassociated with all posts.

Third Party Sites

27 Certain third party sites may offer users the option to log in using their reddit id (for example, redditgifts). This option is only an authentication tool and does not transmit any new personal information to reddit, or give reddit access to details of subsequent actions taken on these sites.

Data Security

28 reddit will make every effort to secure any private information submitted to us by our users. However, no data transmission over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee the absolute security of this data. You use the service at your own risk, and are responsible for taking reasonable measures to secure your account (such as carefully maintaining the secrecy of your password).

International Visitors

29 reddit is a San Francisco, California-based company whose servers are housed in the United States. All personal information we collect from our international users is transferred to the United States and processed according to US law.

30 reddit complies with the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries and Switzerland. reddit has certified that it adheres to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. To learn more about the Safe Harbor program, and to view reddit's certification, please visit http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/.

31 In compliance with the Safe Harbor Principles, reddit commits to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information. European Union and Swiss citizens with inquiries or complaints regarding this privacy policy should first contact us.

32 reddit has further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the Safe Harbor Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, the BBB EU SAFE HARBOR, operated by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed reddit, please visit the BBB EU SAFE HARBOR web site at www.bbb.org/us/safe-harbor-complaints for more information and to file a complaint.

Children Under 13

33 Although we welcome users from all walks of life, our site is not aimed at children, and the United States government has put limits on our ability to accept users under a certain age through the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. Individuals under the age of 13 may not create an account with us. If you believe someone 12 or younger is using our site without parental consent, please contact us.

Changes to This Policy

34 We reserve the right to change this policy to meet the changing needs of reddit, or for any other reason. If we make changes, we will notify our users. Where the changes substantially alters your rights, notice will appear prominently on your front page. More minor changes may only be highlighted by the privacy policy link in the footer of our website.

Contact

35 reddit welcomes questions, concerns, and feedback about this policy. Please feel free to contact us.