If you are an active Reddit user, it definitely means that you are well versed with the happenings of the online world. That also means that you would be familiar with the recently revealed security and privacy issues of reddit. If that has prompted you into thinking about deleting your reddit account, this post is just for you.
Deleting Your Reddit Account: How to Do It
What are some controversies that have surrounded Reddit recently?
Reddit is no stranger to controversy. Flashback to late 2016 shortly after President Trump’s election. Reddit’s CEO, Steve Huffman, discovered in a popular pro-Trump subreddit r/The_Donald that many of the most popular (and critical) comments were about Huffman himself. These comments were mainly directed towards Huffman leading the shut down of a Hillary Clinton conspiracy subreddit. What Redditors didn’t know that Huffman had the power to edit any part of the site. He could insert code that would automatically replace his username with the username of his critic. That would automatically turn the insult back on the critic. Since then, Huffman has been stripped of this power but this incident brought to light the overreach of the tech executives at Reddit.
Over the years, Reddit’s vulnerabilities have constantly been exposed over the years. There was a celebrity nude photo hack, rebellious content moderators, and the removal of a ‘warrant canary’ in 2016. That warrant suggested that they had been asked to hand over user data to a government authority.
Another incident shook Reddit in 2018, where Reddit discreetly (almost secretively) re-enabled the option for its users to be tracked, and sharing data with third parties. Reddit has also enabled tracking by default for personalization and advertising purposes. Users need to manually opt out of it. There’s a catch to it though, you can only opt out of something if you are aware that you have been opted in by default in the first place.
Deactivating vs Deleting: What’s the Difference?
Reddit users, unlike Facebook users, don’t get the choice to temporarily disable/deactivate their account. Once a Reddit account is deleted, it can never be retrieved again. All of your favourite links will also be lost. If not individually deleted before deactivating your accounts, your comments will still be visible. However, instead of your name the comment’s author’s name will be displayed as [deleted].
Unlike Facebook account deactivation, you won’t be able to retrieve your account after deleting. In case you change your mind in the future, you won’t be able to log in to your Reddit account. Not even that, you will not be able to even sign up with the same username again (nor anyone else). In addition to that, Reddit doesn’t come with any automated feature to download your Reddit data. In case you want to do it, you need to request reddit directly.
How to Delete Your Reddit Account: Step by Step Guide
Once you have weighed all your options and decided that you don’t need your Reddit account anymore, you can use these steps to permanently delete your Reddit account:
1. Log in to your Reddit account.
2. Click on your user icon and select ‘User Settings’ from the drop-down menu.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on ‘Deactivate Account’.
4. Re-enter your log in details and if you choose, a reason why you are deleting your Reddit account. Check that you understand deactivated accounts cannot be recovered and click ‘Deactivate’.
5. You will be asked if you are sure as this action cannot be undone. Click ‘Deactivate’.
