Reddit is one of the most popular online networking sites worldwide. It has a huge collection of forums and communities — called ‘subreddits’ — where people can share news and other content and comment on others’ posts. Though the platform has more than 430 million monthly active users as of February 2021, there are many users who want to delete their Reddit accounts. If you are one of them, read on.
Using Reddit can be time-consuming and add to your digital clutter. Besides, the platform has had some data confidentiality issues in the past. Social platforms like Reddit share user information with third parties, which has not gone down well with users in the past. GDPR compliance can help plug these gaps to a large extent, but many organizations are still not fully there yet.
Did you know that you can turn off information sharing from your profile settings in Reddit? Possibly not, since this is not a fact that Reddit advertises openly.
If you are concerned about misuse of your personal information, you might be considering going off Reddit altogether.
Initial Considerations
So, what happens when you delete your Reddit account?
Is Your Personal Information Removed When You Delete Your Account?
When you delete an account, what information is removed and what stays in the digital space? This is precisely what users worry about when they are planning to leave Reddit, especially when personally identifiable information (PII) is concerned. Will your personal data get removed when you delete your account, or not?
Well, not quite, since posts and comments do not get deleted automatically. If any of those contain your personal information, this data can persist on the platform. Probably not the most desirable scenario. Can you download your personal data? Not on your own you can’t. You will need to reach out to the platform to get it.
Are Deactivation and Deletion the Same?
In the case of Reddit, deactivation is another name for deletion, so yes, they are the same. Reddit does not offer you the option to deactivate your account temporarily.
Can You Reactivate Your Account Later?
An account, once deleted, can never be reactivated. Usernames, once assigned, can never be reused by anyone. So, be very sure that you want to delete your Reddit account since you cannot go back and retrieve it.
How to Delete a Reddit Account
With all of that out of the way, here’s how you delete your Reddit account:
With a Reddit Premium Subscription
If you are a Reddit Premium member, simply deactivating your account will not cancel your subscription, so make sure to follow these steps first.
- If you purchased a subscription using an Apple ID, go to the Manage Subscriptions section of the Apple App Store, select Reddit Premium from the list of subscriptions and cancel it. Or, you can do this from your device’s Account Settings.
- If you purchased the subscription using Google Play, go to the Subscriptions section of Google Play and select Reddit Premium from the list of subscriptions to cancel it.
- If you purchased your subscription with Paypal, log in to your Paypal account and go to the Payments section. Under Payment Settings, select, Preapproved Payments. Select Reddit Premium from the list of subscriptions and cancel it.
- For a subscription purchased using a credit card, log in to reddit.com and cancel your subscription from the Reddit Premium section of User Settings.
On Desktop
Here are some considerations when attempting to delete your Reddit account on a desktop computer:
Deleting Your Posts and Comments
Once you have decided to delete your Reddit account, you might want to know — will deleting my account delete my posts and comments as well? Well, no. Your posted content will still be visible on Reddit with [Deleted] showing in place of your profile name. Ideally, you should delete all posts and comments before you deactivate your account.
You will need to do this manually for each post and comment.
- Log in to your account.
- Click on Posts at the top of the page, next to Overview.
- Click on the three dots that you see below your post to open the overflow menu, in which you will see the Delete option.
- Click on it to remove the post. Do the same for any comments.
Deleting Your Reddit Account
- Navigate to the top right of your screen and locate User Settings below Profile.
- Click on User Settings and scroll down the screen to find the Deactivate Account option, shown in red.
- Click on Deactivate Account. Reddit displays a popup asking you the reason for deactivating your account; answering this is optional. Enter your username and password. Tick the checkbox for ‘I understand that deactivated accounts are not recoverable.’ The Deactivate button will become actionable; click on it to proceed further.
- You will see another popup asking you to confirm if you want to deactivate the account. Click on Deactivate to complete the deletion.
- If your account was created by using your Google account or Apple ID, navigate to the Connected Accounts section and click disconnect next to the Google account or Apple ID that you signed up from.
On Mobile Device
To delete your account on your phone’s Reddit app, follow the below steps.
- Log in to your Reddit account.
- Tap on the icon in the top left of your screen to view your profile.
- Click on Settings. Scroll down and click on Help FAQ.
- You will see the Reddit Help screen with a search input box. Type in “Deactivate” and you will see the article “How do I deactivate my account?” at the top of the search results.
- Click on the article title hyperlink to view it.
- Click on the link given in the article; you will see the deactivation screen, which is pretty much the same as on PC.
- Enter the reason for deactivation and fill in your username and password as part of the security protocol. Tick the checkbox to accept that deleted accounts are not recoverable. Click on the “deactivate account” button to proceed further.
- Reddit presents you with another popup, asking if you are sure you want to proceed with the deactivation. Click on “Deactivate” to delete your account.
To confirm that your account has been deleted, try logging in with your credentials. You will see an error message.
Conclusion
If data privacy is the reason that you are leaving Reddit, you should be cautious about sharing your personal information on other social media sites as well. Sharing details such as age, location and holiday announcements online can lead to identity theft and burglaries. Go through the privacy policies of the social media sites that you have signed up for and be careful with the information that you share on them. Refrain from giving location access to social media platforms and adjust your privacy settings to limit sharing posts with family and trusted friends only. Is there any other issue that you came across while deleting your Reddit account that we have not addressed in this article? Kindly let us know in our comment section.
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