Staying Safe on Reddit: You Asked Reddit, Risks and Precautions

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A comprehensive guide on Reddit’s safety issues
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Reddit is one of the most popular website on the internet. It has a vast amount of content and is often called "the front page of the internet." However, you may be wondering if Reddit is safe. This wikiHow article teaches you the risks associated with Reddit and if it is safe or not.

Is Reddit Safe?

Reddit may not be safe for children under the age of 18. Many subreddits contain pornographic, violent, and profane content. You can set your account to not allow inappropriate content, but this can easily be toggled off. Reddit may also collect information about your account, but you don't have to include private information.

Section 1 of 8:

Is Reddit safe for kids?

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  1. Reddit contains a vast amount of content, much of which is not appropriate for young children. There are many subreddits that allow content that is pornographic, violent, or profane. You can also find content promoting hate speech, extreme views, and dangerous activities. [1]
    • Content that is not appropriate for children under 18 is marked as "NSFW" or "Not Safe for Work." You can set your account to block content that is marked as NSFW, but minors can easily toggle this off. No parental password is required. [2]
    • Officially, Reddit does not allow users under the age of 13. This does not mean that Reddit is appropriate for children over the age of 13. It is recommended that parents supervise children age 13 and older.
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Section 2 of 8:

Is Reddit safe from predators?

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  1. Predators can interact with children through comments, direct messaging, and group chats. The fact that users can stay anonymous on Reddit makes it more attractive to those who have bad intentions. While you can block users on Reddit, you should be careful who you talk to and the information you share.
    • Do not give out any personal information to anybody you meet on Reddit. This includes your name, location, password, job or school, or anything they could use to track and find you.
Section 3 of 8:

Is Reddit safe for privacy?

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  1. Unlike other social media platforms, Reddit does not require you to use your actual name or any identifiable information. As long as you do not share any personal information in your username, profile, posts, chats, or direct messages, it is possible to stay anonymous on Reddit. However, Reddit may collect information on your profile and the way you use it.
    • Reddit also allows you to make your profile not searchable on Google and other search engines.
    • If you are conducting illegal activity on Reddit, law enforcement may subpoena information about your profile and the way it's being used from Reddit.
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Section 4 of 8:

Is Reddit safe from hackers?

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  1. The Reddit app itself is safe to use, however other users may post links to harmful websites. These may include virus and malware downloads as well as phishing scams that may steal your information. Do not click on any links that you don't know and trust. Do not open any files or executables that you accidentally download from Reddit. Do not provide any personal information in links that you click.
Section 5 of 8:

Risks Associated With Reddit

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  1. There are many subreddits that are dedicated to pornography and other forms of adult content. While this content is generally blocked by default, you can easily turn this off in the Settings.
  2. In addition to pornography, you can also find images and descriptions of graphic violence on Reddit. This can be harmful to small children and people who are not emotionally prepared to view this material.
  3. Over the years, Reddit has had controversy involving subreddits that are dedicated to racism, homophobia, body shaming, misogyny, and extremist views. While much of this content is banned by Reddit's user policy, it is hard to moderate all the content that gets posted due to the high volume of content. [3]
  4. Because users aren't required to use their real names or any identifiable information, they often feel they can do and say whatever they want without any real-world repercussions. This can lead to a lot of harassment and bullying on the platform, which can be very harmful to a person or child's mental health.
  5. Doxing is when someone posts another person's personal information without their consent. This can include a person's name, address, work or school, or private photos. While this is against Reddit's policy, it can and does still happen.
  6. With Reddit being a largely anonymous platform, many predators feel emboldened to target minors. Predators can interact with minors through private messages, chats, and post replies.
  7. Because Reddit doesn't require users to verify their identity, they can easily impersonate other people. Reddit can be a hotbed for scammers. They may try to promote shady products or contact other users for the purpose of scamming them out of money
  8. Hackers may try to post links that contain downloads for malicious software and viruses. They may also post phishing links. These are links to a website that looks official (like a bank website). The goal is to trick you into entering your personal information, such as the log in information to your bank account.
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Section 6 of 8:

How to Stay Safe on Reddit

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  1. Reddit requires users to be 13 years or older to sign up for an account. However, they do not verify your age when you sign up. It's not hard for children to create an account and lie about their age. Monitor your child's internet usage and do not allow them to have a Reddit account if they are under 13.
  2. If you want to allow teenagers over the age of 13 to have a Reddit account, make sure it is highly supervised. Parents should create an account for their children and ensure they have full access to it. This will allow you to monitor what your children are doing on Reddit as well as monitor their direct messages and chats with other users.
  3. Do not use your real name in your username or profile. Do not post your real name, address, location, job, school, or your schedule in any comments, profile, chats, or direct message.
  4. Reddit and other social media platforms can be a great place to meet other like-minded people, but be careful meeting people in person. If you are a minor, do not meet anybody you met on Reddit unless your parents or guardians are with you. If you are an adult make sure you meet in a public area with lots of people around. Do not meet anyone in private unless you are sure you know them.
  5. To ensure that you do not accidentally download any malware or fall victim to a phishing scam, do not click on any suspicious links you see posted on Reddit. Verify the URL before clicking on it.
  6. The NSFW filter is turned on by default. This will keep you from accidentally viewing any adult or violent content. However, it should not be relied on as a parental control mechanism because it can easily be toggled off. Use the following steps to ensure the NSFW filter is turned on.
    • Go to https://www.reddit.com/ and log in to your account.
    • Click your profile icon in the upper-right corner.
    • Click Settings .
    • Click the Preferences tab.
    • Ensure the toggle switch next to "Show mature (18+) content" is turned off.
      • Alternatively, you can click the toggle switch next to "Blur mature (18+) images and media.".
  7. You can select if you want people to be able to follow you and see what your activity on Reddit. If you don't want people following you, use the following steps to disable following:
    • Go to https://www.reddit.com/ and log in to your account.
    • Click your profile icon in the upper-right corner.
    • Click Settings .
    • Click the Privacy tab.
    • Toggle off "Allow people to follow you."
  8. To prevent strangers from messaging you, you can opt to not allow chat or inbox messages. Use the following steps to disable these features:
    • Go to https://www.reddit.com/ and log in to your account.
    • Click your profile icon in the upper-right corner.
    • Click Settings .
    • Click the Privacy tab.
    • Set "Who can send you inbox messages" to "People I choose."
    • Set "Allow chat requests from" to "Nobody."
  9. Reddit allows you to set your profile to private so that it doesn't appear in the "r/all" list of users. You can also make it so that your profile is not searchable on search engines like Google. Use the following steps to do so:
    • Go to https://www.reddit.com/ and log in to your account.
    • Click your profile icon in the upper-right corner.
    • Click Settings .
    • Click the Privacy tab.
    • Toggle off "List your profile on old.reddit.com/users."
    • Toggle off "Show up in search results."
  10. To make it harder for users to stalk you on Reddit, you can disable their ability to see what communities and subreddits you are active in. Use the following steps to do so:
    • Go to https://www.reddit.com/ and log in to your account.
    • Click your profile icon in the upper-right corner.
    • Click Settings .
    • Click the Profile tab.
    • Toggle off "Show active communities .
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Section 7 of 8:

Is Reddit moderated?

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  1. Furthermore, individual subreddits may have their own rules and a team of volunteer moderators to moderate the subreddit. However, with such a vast amount of content being uploaded to Reddit daily, it's impossible to moderate everything that gets posted on Reddit.
Section 8 of 8:

Is there any benefit to Reddit?

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  1. There are many subreddits dedicated to helping people and answering questions. You can find a lot of helpful information on Reddit. However, you can also find a lot of bad and false information.
  2. There are subreddits dedicated to just about anything you can imagine. Reddit can be a great place to find people who are into the same things you are into and be part of a community. However, you should be careful who you talk to on Reddit.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.bark.us/app-reviews/apps/reddit/
      2. ↑ https://www.brightcanary.io/is-reddit-safe-for-kids/
      3. ↑ https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/news/reddit-hate-speech

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