Reddit Adds 'Involuntary Nudity' Section to Privacy Policy

CYBERSPACE—In a move that drew an "It's about damn time!" reaction from The Verge, Reddit announced today, in an update to its Privacy Policy, that will soon begin to expedite the removal of any "link to a photograph, video, or digital image of you in a state of nudity or engaged in any act of sexual conduct" that has been posted without consent. The new policy reads: reddit is committed to your privacy. If you believe that someone has submitted, without your permission, to reddit a link to a photograph, video, or digital image of you in a state of nudity or engaged in any act of sexual conduct, please contact us (contact@reddit.com), and we will expedite its removal as quickly as possible. reddit prohibits the posting of such content without consent. The change did not happen on its own. As The New York Times' Mike Isaac explained, despite a well-earned reputation for "letting its users govern themselves" that resulted in "an outpouring of user-generated content—for better or, sometimes, for worse—that attracts nearly 160 million regular users to the site," Reddit's very permissiveness forced today's change. A few highly publicized incidents brought unwanted attention to the site and its lack of parental controls. "A few years ago," writes Isaac, "Michael Brutsch created a large sub-community called 'Jailbait' dedicated entirely to posting and trading photos of underage girls." As well, he adds, the site "was embroiled in a scandal last Fall after hackers stole nude photos of celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and posted them to online message boards, including Reddit." Changes were clearly afoot following "a series of changes over the last year, including the departure of its chief executive and a fresh $50 million round of venture capital." Some sort of writing was discernable on the wall. Still, as a user-generated-content site dependant for its survival on its continuing eligibility as a Section 230 ISP in good standing, despite the language above that espressly prohibits "the posting of such content without consent," the "prohibit" part of the equation is enforced only after "such content" has been posted, and only if it is noticed and then reported as having been posted without the consent of people depicted in it. Fom the language used by Reddit in its policy, it also appears to be the case that consent would also be required of performers in commercial porn posted to the site. The new policy does not say if there will be any repercussions for those who post the prohibited content, but in a separate comment, the company promises to "share how often these takedowns occur in our yearly privacy report." Team Reddit, in response to last year's celebrity hack, admits that it "missed a chance to be a leader in social media when it comes to protecting your privacy," but insists that it is "leading the way among our peers when it comes to your digital privacy," and adds that it considers the new policy, which goes into effect March 10, to "be one more step in the right direction." It will be interesting to see how this new policy unfolds, especially in light of Google's more divisive decision to impose far more restrictive polcies on Blogger sexual content. Both ostensibly need to find a balance between controlling illegal or abusive behavior on their networks and still maintain what is at least perceived to be a "hands-off" policy regarding content. The way each is going about it seems to be night and day. Reddit appears to appreciate sexual expression, while Google appears to tolerate it only to the extent to which it can maintain its Section 230 status and still make some revenue through its own promotion or peddling of terabites of free porn.