Tired of having to put up with Reddit’s administrators and moderators? Do you feel like you need to let go because you’re spending too much energy on it? Not everyone is going to be a fan of Reddit’s peculiar structure. In addition to the risk of having your post downvoted to extinction, Reddit also compromises your ability to maintain a level of anonymity while browsing the web.
Reddit usernames are typically anonymous, but it shouldn’t lead you to believe that the site is completely private. Find out why Reddit isn’t your friend when it comes to data security, and learn what you need to do to permanently cancel your account.
What Personal Information Does Reddit Have About You?
In case you haven’t already, here’s a rundown of everything Reddit knows about you, according to their privacy policy.
Wow, a lot of detail there. The bright side is that Reddit says it removes all of this data from its servers after 100 days, with the exception of the IP address you used to sign up for Reddit.
Even after you cancel your account, Reddit may save some of your information if doing so is necessary to comply with a legal obligation or is necessary for the operation of a legitimate business need.
This implies that the service may keep copies of your information, including deleted posts and comments. Also, whatever you post to a Reddit community will be accessible to anybody who visits the site. As with other social networking sites, it’s wise to be selective about what you post on Reddit.
Read More: What Does “Pending” on Snapchat Actually Mean and How You Can Fix It?
The 2022 Update to How to Permanently Delete Your Reddit Account
Read on if you are one of the millions of monthly active users of Reddit to discover more about the site’s privacy and security concerns and, if you so choose, how to remove your account permanently.
- Conflict is nothing new on Reddit. In this flashback, we visit late 2016 just after Trump’s inauguration. CEO Steve Huffman observed that many of the most popular (and critical) comments in a pro-Trump subreddit, r/The Donald, were about Huffman himself in response to the shutdown of a Hilary Clinton conspiracy subreddit.
- The reditors didn’t know that Huffman could alter any area of the site and inject code that would automatically swap his username with the username of his critic, turning the insult back on them. Users on Reddit were quick to catch on and were outraged by the prospect of tampered data.
- Although Huffman no longer holds this position, this episode did shed attention on the abuse of power by Reddit and possibly other tech CEOs.
- Recent years have shown many of Reddit’s flaws, such as a celebrity nude photo hack, dissident content moderators, and the 2016 removal of a “warrant canary” that hinted to a request to hand over user data to a government body.
- In 2018, however, an incident occurred in which Reddit once again enabled surveillance of its users and shared this information with third parties in a stealthy, nearly covert manner.
- Reddit users are tracked automatically for advertising and customization purposes unless they take action to disable it. Users are more likely to opt-out of this default tracking if they are aware of it.
Instructions for Deleting Your Reddit Account
If you’ve decided that Reddit isn’t for you, then you can easily remove your account.
- Visit Reddit by signing in.
- Withdrawing from Reddit Permanently – Sign In
- To modify your account settings, click the user symbol and then pick “User Settings” from the menu.
- Remove your Reddit Account Permanently in Your Account Settings
- Just go to the very bottom of the page and hit the button that says “Deactivate Account.”
- Reddit Delete Permanently – Deactivate Account
- Fill in your Reddit username and password again, and provide an explanation if you like. Before clicking “Deactivate,” be sure you’ve read and understood the warning that your account will be permanently deleted.
- Reddit Exit Reason: I’m Leaving Forever
- In light of the irreversibility of your impending action, you will be prompted to verify your resolve. Select “Deactivate” from the menu.
- The Reddit account you just deleted has been removed from the system forever.
Read More: Who Owns Instagram: An Overview of Instagram Ownership!
Ways to Improve Your Online Privacy
- There have been several high-profile incidents in recent years involving the privacy protocols and policies of various social media networks. For instance, in 2018, Facebook was rocked by the Cambridge Analytica incident, which resulted in the improper sharing of data for as many as 87 million users.
- Your social media profiles reveal so much about you. Thieves have frequently targeted homes during the holidays because they have seen social media posts announcing that the residents will be away.
- Unknowingly, many social media users expose their physical whereabouts whenever they publish geotagged content. If your date of birth is also listed, identity thieves may now have enough information to steal your identity if you choose to reveal it in this way. It’s a bigger concern if there’s a lot of personal information about you on the internet.
- In spite of this, social media serves several uses beyond maintaining personal relationships. Thus, there are measures you may take to protect yourself if you are not able to or want to completely abandon social media.
- Be wary of social media platforms that routinely disclose your data to third parties; do some reading and research on the privacy rules of the platforms you use.
- Make sure you keep an eye on your privacy settings as well. You should restrict access to your posts to only close friends and family members if you haven’t already.
- Also, never authorize a social media site to share your position or access your phone’s GPS data. It’s a good idea to double-check your privacy settings on a frequent basis to make sure nothing has been altered without your knowledge.