What happened
In February 2015, under interim CEO Ellen Pao, Reddit announced its first formal policy against involuntary pornography, prohibiting the posting of nude or sexually explicit images of a person without that person's consent. Taking effect in early March, the rule directly responded to the fallout from the 2014 celebrity photo leaks and the rise of "revenge porn," allowing victims to request removal of intimate images shared without permission. It marked a notable shift away from the near-absolutist free-speech posture of the Yishan Wong era.
The move was part of a broader effort to define harassment as systematic, continued attempts to torment or demean someone such that a reasonable person would not feel safe participating. These policies were among the first concrete steps toward enforceable content rules on a platform long resistant to top-down moderation. Although intended to protect users, the changes—and the higher-profile subreddit bans that followed in June—made Pao a lightning rod for backlash from users who viewed any restriction as censorship, contributing to the hostile climate that surrounded her resignation later that year.