Reddit is a platform widely used by many people to closely follow specific communities, whether they are focused on content creators, gaming industry rumors, movies, series, or any other topic; and other aspects with a strong presence on this social network. Now, the platform has announced a series of changes in ad privacy settings that haven’t been well-received by many of its users.
“In order to simplify ad privacy options, Reddit has announced, through its privacy director, that it will remove the ability for users to decide whether they want to receive personalized ads based on their activity on the platform. In other words, no one will be exempt from receiving these personalized ads based on what they search for and consume on the platform.”
Reddit won’t let anyone escape personalized ads
As mentioned earlier, the news was shared by Jutta Williams, the aforementioned privacy director of the platform, through the subreddit of the network, stating that changes were being made to the privacy settings. However, they wanted to reassure users by indicating that they do not share user activity information with external advertisers. They also emphasized that this change does not mean there will be more ads or shared information. Reddit’s aim with this move is to improve ad targeting and increase click-through rates.
On the other hand, we previously stated that no one can escape personalized ads, but that’s not entirely true. Reddit confirmed with all the above that there will be some ‘selected countries’ that will still have the option to choose whether they want personalized ads or not. However, details about these specific locations were not provided. Although the company has not disclosed anything on this matter, it is highly likely that the countries exempt from this change in the platform belong to the European Union, as this would violate the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Of course, this has been the most prominent change in this news, but it hasn’t been the only one. Reddit has also updated descriptions of privacy options and how search results are displayed. Additionally, the platform has announced that users will now be able to select if they don’t want certain categories of ads, such as alcohol, dating, gambling, pregnancy and parenting, and weight loss. This last measure, in fact, is expected to improve over time.
