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Every documented issue, searchable and filterable by category, year, and keyword. Toggle between grid and timeline views, and export the filtered set to CSV.
353 issues
Security researchers documented that the handwritten verification selfies users post to NSFW subreddits such as r/GoneWild were being scraped and manipulated by fraudsters to defeat identity-verification (KYC) systems and build synthetic identities.
Reddit runs on unpaid volunteer moderators whose exposure to harmful content and harassment causes documented psychological harm — a problem underscored by professional-moderator PTSD lawsuits across the industry.
A security researcher earned a $10,000 Reddit bug bounty for an OAuth flaw in Reddit's 'Sign in with Apple' flow that let an attacker hijack the account of any user who used Apple sign-in with a single click, by abusing the OAuth state parameter to steal the victim's authorization code.
On 23 March 2022 Reddit banned the India-focused r/Chodi, a community of over 90,000 members, for promoting hate against Muslims, following a TIME investigation into hate speech on the platform.
In March 2022 Reddit permanently banned r/ChongLangTV, a Chinese-diaspora community of more than 53,000 members, for doxxing — a removal that critics framed as an instance of Chinese 'long-arm censorship' reaching a Western platform, raising questions about doxxing, free expression and cross-border pressure.
In June 2022 Reddit banned r/TumblrInAction, an 'anti-SJW' community of roughly half a million members, together with its smaller sister subreddit r/SocialJusticeInAction, citing its rule against promoting hate — a removal the communities' moderators attributed to gender-critical content and which reignited debate over consistency in Reddit's enforcement.
Reddit launched blockchain-based 'Collectible Avatars' on Polygon in July 2022 while conspicuously avoiding the word 'NFT,' drawing user backlash over unownable assets and a crypto pivot many saw as cynical — with related features later quietly sunset.
On 23 March 2022 Reddit quarantined r/GenZedong, a pro-CCP 'tankie' community of over 57,000 members, for hosting a high volume of disinformation about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On 1 March 2022 Reddit quarantined r/Russia, a community of over 265,000 members, for spreading disinformation about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with its sister subreddit r/RussiaPolitics.
Reddit's own 30 September 2019 policy post said that, under its earlier rules, 'too often, instances of harassment and bullying, even egregious ones, were left unactioned.' Moderators later told The Atlantic and TIME that their messages and reports to Reddit's administrators went unanswered or drew automated replies saying the content did not violate Reddit's policy, and the Los Angeles Times reported that a racist-joke subreddit was quarantined in 2015 but not banned until 2020.
After banning the notorious r/jailbait subreddit in 2011, Reddit continued to face documented child sexual abuse material (CSAM) problems through the 2020s, including a 2021 federal lawsuit and sharply rising NCMEC CyberTipline reports as the platform expanded media sharing.
A line of studies, beginning with analysis of Reddit's 2015 ban wave, measured whether removing hate communities reduced hateful activity and tracked where displaced users migrated when they did not disappear.