Reddit said Wednesday that the platform is revamping its privacy settings with an aim to make ad personalization and account visibility toggles consistent. Most notably though, it is removing the ability to opt out of ad personalization based on Reddit activity.
The company said that it will still have opt-out controls in “select countries” without specifying which ones. It mentioned in a blog post that users won’t see more ads but they will see better-targeted ads following this change.
“Reddit requires very little personal information, and we like it that way. Our advertisers instead rely on on-platform activity—what communities you join, leave, upvotes, downvotes, and other signals—to get an idea of what you might be interested in,” Reddit said.
The company is essentially removing the option to not track you based on whatever you do on Reddit.
Additionally, Reddit is consolidating two toggles on showing ads based on activity and information from partners into one toggle. So there is no way to separate those two settings now.
Reddit is seemingly removing toggles for getting post recommendations based on “general location” and activity on partner sites and apps. It’s not clear if this means those parameters will be used for post suggestions by default and there is no way to turn them off.
The social network said it will also roll out controls to limit certain advertising categories such as alcohol, weight loss, dating, gambling pregnancy, and parenting.
The company noted that ad-limiting controls will possibly show you fewer ads from mentioned categories if the toggles are turned off, but won’t possibly filter out all ads. Reddit justified this by saying it uses manual tagging and machine learning to label ads, so there is a chance that it is not 100% accurate.
Reddit is also simplifying its location customization setting under a single menu, which will be easily accessible through settings on apps and on the web.
The social platform has made several changes to increase monetization. It infamously made changes to its data API terms that led to many third-party clients shutting down and subreddits protesting in retaliation. Last week, it rolled out a new creator rewards program to incentivize people to post more and better content on the platform. But it also introduced a change that made it easier for users to purchase Gold rewards.
In an interview with The Verge in June, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman responded to IPO rumors and said “Getting to breakeven is a priority for us in any climate.”
The turn these tech companies take to IPO at the highest valuations, it’s ridiculous. If investors won’t let you IPO according to the values that made you a company, investors shouldn’t have been investing in your company.
and when you fail to meet the ridiculously high numbers, the only solution is to push more ads towards your users!
What’s Reddit?
You ever use Digg? It’s like that but with more fascism.
Centralized Lemmy clone.
eww
I think it’s like an unfederated Lemmy. Don’t know why anyone would use something like that
Looks like another migration wave may be underway… 🤞🌊
If you’re interested in keeping your bookmarks and the subreddits (communities) you’re subscribed to before deleting your account(s), I made a free tool to help you store and offload that data.
It’s called Reddit Account Manager, and it’s 100% free.
You can also use it to manage your Lemmy accounts, of course.
A couple weeks ago, I had a ten year old account on Reddit that just wouldn’t let me back in. I tried changing the password, but the link and the form it gave me didn’t work. I tried several times, no luck.
I contacted support several times. They were worse than useless. If that’s how they treat their most loyal content creators now, why on earth would I ever go back?
Oh well. It was fun until it wasn’t.
munches popcorn
Yup, watching the world burn does have its days
Fuck Spez
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Why would anyone “have to” use reddit?
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That doesn’t answer why you “have to” use Reddit.
As reddit becomes more shittt, Lemmy will grow.
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I don’t know why q47tx uses it, but there are a lot of niche support communities that would be very difficult to give up. Subs that encourage sobriety, give basic legal or medical advice to those that can’t afford lawyers/doctors, and subs with resources for domestic violence are just a few examples. I don’t begrudge anyone for continuing to use reddit if they use it for things like that. I find myself there often because unfortunately, it’s basically the largest resource for user-curated information and solutions, and a lot of my google searches for particular issues are only solved by going to an answer there. The part where I’ll judge someone is if they continue to mindlessly browse reddit, as I used to until the API fuckery, but for all those things, yeah, reddit is still the best, as much as I don’t want it to be. Lemmy could get there eventually, but the simple fact is, it’s not yet.
Foreigners living in other countries, especially with really difficult languages such as japanese, have many support communities as well. They help with living, visa issues, etc.
Sadly it’s most decent alternative is an anticorporate circlejerk so I still have to use it
Get a load of this guy. Pro corporate lol
Yes not enough IQ for nuance, you either flame them or youre with them, thanks for proving my point
And yet…you’re still here…
Again no nuance, according to your IQ typing here means I only use lemmy AND as frequently as I used to be on reddit, which I still use and much more.
At least I have enough IQ to actually look at the usernames before responding.
I intended to reply to you, are you confused, bonehead?
Sure you did, that’s why you referred to things you said to the other guy…
Frankly, and you wont like this. but you are not welcome on lemmy if you are pro corporate.
This place exists in large part due to wanting to escape these people
I’ll assume you didnt read my comment before replying because I would be getting second hand cringe from the lack of reading comprehension
“circlejerk” is the magic word. it’s funny how many threads are just meta discussion about the platform and why “the old ones” are trash and doomed to fail, like some ppl have to convince each other over and over again that it’s the others that miss out.
Jokes on them, I don’t have any activity there now
I only kept my account active for the reminder bot and I intend to check every few months
Yeah, I have a reminder set for 2025, which seemed a long way away when I set it
I wonder how I’ll get the notification now the app that used to notify me no longer works
This is a good news, some people can’t resist targeted ads. With random ads less people would buy stuffs recommended by ads
What is this “Reddit” you speak of, and why should I care about them?
I’d heard it’s some kind of shitty Lemmy clone. 'Tis a silly place.
The way I see it, they have to. Big companies like Google and Facebook have just been forced by the EU to provide results that are not personalized and also to allow people to only see that they follow (no suggested posts). If I remember correctly they have until the end of the year to comply. I’d be surprised if reddid does not have to follow this at some point
Every time I read something new about Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook I find myself more and more pleased with the decision to disengage them. I’m sure they continue to collect data on me as best they can, but not using their services, blocking social trackers, and using payment options that can’t and don’t link my profile to their ad platforms is a big help.
Its not personalization: its just business
I wonder what kind of ads the piracy type of subreddits will be getting.
Micky Mouse-themed gummies with chemical castration as a side-effect.
