Issues Database

In 2023 Reddit terminated Pushshift's bulk data access as part of its paid-API crackdown, breaking the historical archive that powered research and the tools (Reveddit, Removeddit, Unddit) used to view deleted or removed content — reshaping who controls retained Reddit data.

A 2022 BBC Panorama investigation revealed a Reddit subreddit with more than 20,000 members dedicated to trading leaked and non-consensual explicit images of South Asian women, some of whom were blackmailed and harassed.

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.

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.

The influencer-promoted 'Save the Kids' charity token, exposed as a pump-and-dump, was partly organized through Reddit — where YouTuber Sam Pepper promoted the project, built its moderator team, and reportedly handled the presale.

Reddit hosted active pro-eating-disorder communities such as r/proED; a peer-reviewed longitudinal study using Reddit data found measurable real-world weight loss and shrinking weight goals among participants.

During the January 2021 GameStop squeeze, members of Reddit's r/WallStreetBets directed an off-platform harassment campaign at short-seller Andrew Left of Citron Research, including hacked accounts used to contact his children.

In August 2020 attackers hijacked moderator accounts to deface more than 70 subreddits — including r/space, r/NFL, and r/food — with pro-Trump messaging. Reddit confirmed that none of the compromised accounts had two-factor authentication enabled.

Canada's largest subreddit was accused, with leaked chat logs, of being run by moderators with ties to white-nationalist content — including one who placed a $250 'bounty' on a Vice journalist — while the platform's seniority rules made the implicated moderators effectively impossible to remove.

A whistleblower's October 2018 Reddit post exposed that skincare brand Sunday Riley had its employees write fake Sephora reviews under invented identities — a tip that helped trigger an FTC investigation and settlement over fake-grassroots review fraud.

In January 2019 Reddit locked a large group of accounts after detecting unusual activity it attributed to credential stuffing, forcing affected users to reset passwords. Some users disputed the explanation, suspecting a direct compromise.