Reddit will no longer let you opt out of personalized ads

Reddit is removing the quality for immoderate users to opt retired of advertisement personalization based connected their enactment connected the platform. Announced connected Wednesday alongside respective incoming updates to its privacy, advertising, and determination settings, Reddit’s caput of privacy, Jutta Williams, justified the alteration by saying that Reddit “requires precise small idiosyncratic information” from its users and that it would let the institution to “better foretell which advertisement whitethorn beryllium astir applicable to you.” 

Williams contends that the immense bulk of Reddit users “will spot nary alteration to their ads,” and users who had antecedently opted retired of advertisement personalization “will not effect successful seeing much ads oregon sharing on-platform enactment with advertisers.” The updates to the platform’s advertizing settings volition rotation retired implicit the adjacent fewer weeks.

Responding successful comments to Redditors who are upset by the change, Williams added this:

Exceptions person been made for “select countries,” though the nonstop regions person not been specified. European countries mightiness beryllium exempt from the forced opt successful arsenic the alteration would apt bring Reddit into nonstop struggle with the EU’s GDPR rules, which necessitate companies to get explicit support to cod oregon process idiosyncratic information for usage successful activities similar advertising. Meta precocious carved retired akin exceptions for European Facebook and Instagram users earlier this twelvemonth to bring it into compliance with EU privateness laws. We person reached retired to Reddit for clarification connected which countries volition beryllium excluded and volition update this communicative if we perceive back.

The Reddit changes volition besides adhd the quality for users to spot less ads from circumstantial categories similar gambling, alcohol, value loss, and dating. The institution says that its process of combining manual tagging with instrumentality learning to classify the ads isn’t apt to beryllium 100 percent palmy astatine archetypal but expects it to amended implicit time.