Reddit is rolling out a new policy on Thursday aimed at balancing its desire to license its content to larger tech companies like Google with protecting user privacy. The newly announced “Public Content Policy” will now be incorporated into Reddit’s existing privacy policy and content policy to govern how commercial companies and other partners access and use Reddit’s data. In this regard, the company also announced a subreddit dedicated to researchers working with Reddit’s data.
The announcement comes shortly after Reddit’s stock market debut, positioning the company to grow revenue not only from ads running on its platform and API usage by developers, but also from its data assets. The company said in its IPO prospectus that it has already earned $203 million through data licensing agreements and expects that number to increase over time.
Although Reddit had not historically blocked access to its data for AI training purposes, it changed course last year. Steve Huffman, Reddit’s CEO, told the New York Times that it makes no sense for Reddit to continue to “provide all this value for free to some of the biggest companies in the world,” signaling the company’s plan to invest in the Data licensing to enter space.
With these efforts now in full swing, the new public content policy will further block access to Reddit’s data without an agreement.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more commercial companies leveraging unauthorized access or abusing authorized access to collect public data in bulk, including public Reddit content,” Reddit writes on its blog. “Worse, these companies are under the impression that they have no restrictions on how they can use this data, and they do so without regard to user rights or privacy, ignoring appropriate legal, security and user removal requests. As we continue our efforts to block known bad actors, we must do more to limit access to public Reddit content at scale to trusted actors who have agreed to follow our policies. But we must continue to ensure that users, mods, researchers and other bona fide non-commercial actors have access.”
In other words, access to Reddit data for research and other non-commercial purposes will remain, but those companies that want to use Reddit’s data for other purposes – including for AI training – will have to pay. In a graphic posted on the blog, Reddit makes this clear, saying that companies interested in using Reddit data to “operate, extend, or improve your product for commercial purposes” will need a contract.
Advertisers, meanwhile, are directed to an ads API to manage campaigns and track their performance.
Since the company is essentially just a large website that can be indexed by search engines, this new policy aims to protect Reddit content from unauthorized collection while respecting users’ rights.
Reddit, for example, says its partners must upload users’ decisions to delete their content. So if users don’t want their personal posts to become fodder for future AI engines, they should be able to opt out. The new policy also prohibits partners from using Reddit’s content to identify people or their personal information, including for targeted advertising. Partners are also not allowed to use Reddit content to spam or harass their users or to “conduct background checks, facial recognition, government surveillance, or assist law enforcement agencies in doing any of the foregoing.”
The policy also limits access to adult media and makes it clear that Reddit will not sell its users’ personal information. The company also points out that it never shares non-public content such as private messages or non-public account information such as: B. Users’ emails or browsing history.
To help researchers who want to use Reddit data for non-commercial purposes, the company has created a new subreddit: r/reddit4researchers. The company says it is working with OpenMined to also develop a program to guide and expand researchers’ collaboration with Reddit.