Reddit Rolls Out New Privacy Feature for User Profiles

Reddit has launched a new update designed to give users greater control over the visibility of their content.

Through a newly added “Content and Activity” setting, users can now manage which posts and comments appear on their public profiles.

By default, all user activity, posts, and comments will still be visible, just as before. However, with the new feature, Reddit users can choose to hide all their public posts and comments, including those made directly on their own profiles.

The setting is located in a new section titled “Curate your profile.” Within this space, users can:

• Hide or show posts and comments from specific subreddits
• Toggle visibility for NSFW content
• Show or hide their follower count

This means users can selectively display or conceal content from certain communities on their profiles, although Reddit doesn’t currently support hiding content at the individual post or comment level.

Boosting Privacy Without Full Anonymity

Although the update offers a new layer of privacy, Reddit clarifies that this isn’t complete anonymity. A user’s username will still be visible on posts and comments within communities. Additionally, subreddit moderators will retain access to users’ public activity from the past 28 days, even if that content is hidden on profiles.

Reddit explains this is necessary for moderation purposes, especially for requests sent through “modmail” or when users try to join restricted communities.

Also, if someone comments directly on a user’s profile post, the profile owner will temporarily gain access to that user’s full public post and comment history.

Reddit believes this update might reduce the need for “throwaway” accounts, which users have traditionally created for more sensitive discussions, like health, relationships, or personal advice. Now, users can feel more comfortable engaging in such conversations without worrying that these interactions will be pinned to their public profile.

Despite this enhanced visibility control, Reddit continues to centralize user activity under primary accounts. Following its IPO and a shift toward becoming a more ad-focused platform, Reddit appears to prioritize keeping engagement tied to individual user profiles for more precise ad targeting.

New Activity Summary Feature

Alongside the privacy settings, Reddit also introduced updated personal activity summaries. These summaries display information like:

• Karma count
• Total contributions
• Account age
• Active communities (based on the user’s “Content and Activity” settings)