Reddit: new policy prohibits sexually explicit content without consent

The news and social networking site Reddit announced a new privacy policy that prohibits users from posting sexual or nude photos or links to their site without the subject’s consent. The policy will go into effect for its 160 million users on March 10.

Although the policy is meant to protect the subject, the subject is still required to email Reddit to take the photo down. As a result, the subject could still be exposed and there is no guarantee that the photo will not show up somewhere else on the site or on the Internet.

Jessica Moreno, Reddit’s community head, stated that Reddit cannot ask that “every post prove consent” because it would not be “very effective.” However, company employees and moderators are receiving additional training on how to handle the take-down requests. CNN Money reported that Moreno moderators are already removing unauthorized images upon request or when something was “obviously” posted without a subject’s consent.

Until now, the company has had a hands-off approach and allowed its users to regulate their own forums within specified guidelines such as no spam or child pornography. This change came about nearly six months after hackers posted nude photos of several celebrities, such as Jennifer Lawrence and Ariana Grande, to Reddit and Twitter. Lawrence called the photos released without her consent a “sex crime.” After the incident, the company was criticized for having one rule for celebrities and another for non-celebrities.

CEO Ellen Pao said in a statement that the policy change is meant to help Reddit continue to expand for the “next 10 years and beyond,” according to Telegraph.

Reddit’s announcement comes right on the heels of Google’s recent policy updates. The company announced that they would be banning graphic nudity or sexually explicit content from being publicly accessible on its Blogger service. Unlike Reddit, the content will not be deleted. It will be made private and only authorized viewers can access it.

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