Reddit is rolling out new privacy features that let users hide posts, comments, and NSFW history from their public profiles. The move is part of a broader effort to give users more control over their online presence without relying on throwaway accounts.
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Until now, all user activity on Reddit was public by default. And while that transparency has fueled Reddit’s open-forum identity, it also came with downsides, especially when old posts were dug up and taken out of context. Now, Reddit users can curate their profile visibility from a new “Content and Activities” tab in Settings.
What Can You Hide?
- All posts and comments from your profile
- Posts/comments from specific subreddits
- NSFW subreddit activity
However, there’s a catch: you can’t hide individual posts or comments. And even if they’re hidden from your profile, they still remain visible in the subreddit itself.
Mods Still Get Access. For a While
To prevent abuse, moderators will still have full visibility into user profiles for 28 days after a post, comment, modmail, or request to join a private subreddit. After that, your profile visibility settings kick back in, unless you engage again.
A Post-IPO Move?
This privacy upgrade likely ties into Reddit’s post-IPO push to discourage anonymous throwaway accounts, which limit their ability to gather engagement data for ads and AI training. But not everyone is celebrating. Some users warn the changes could make it harder to spot bad actors, who can now mask their patterns of behavior across multiple subs.
“Unless you’re a mod, you won’t be able to see that they’re posting inflammatory misinformation across a dozen different subs,” one commenter wrote. “Less transparency isn’t good.”
As Reddit tries to balance user privacy with platform safety and monetize along the way, this update could mark a shift in how “open” Reddit really is.