Is Reddit's Terms of Service safe?

Top concerning points

1. 1.

   You sign away moral rights

   blocker

   High

   Moral rights are rights to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, as well as directors of films. "The moral rights include the right of attribution, the right to have a work published anonymously or pseudonymously, and the right to the integrity of the work. The preserving of the integrity of the work allows the author to object to alteration, distortion, or mutilation of the work that is "prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation". Anything else that may detract from the artist's relationship with the work even after it leaves the artist's possession or ownership may bring these moral rights into play. Moral rights are distinct from any economic rights tied to copyrights. Even if an artist has assigned his or her copyright rights to a work to a third party, he or she still maintains the moral rights to the work." -Wikipedia In general, any terms that use the exact words "moral rights" as rights that are waived will fall under this Case.

   Source quote / document
2. 2.

   Private messages can be read

   blocker

   High

   The Service is able to access, scan, review or read all user communications, including private messages, which may contain personal or sensitive data.

3. 3.

   Your personal data is used for automated decision-making, profiling or AI training

   blocker

   High

   Personal data or content you share with the service may be processed to make decisions by automated means without human involvement. This includes profiling, which is any form of automated processing of your information to analyse or predict things like your economic situation, health, personal preferences or interests; as well as Artificial Intelligence training.

4. 4.

   Specific content can be deleted without reason and may be removed without prior notice

   blocker

   High

   This service can delete specific content. Usually they will claim they reserve the right to do it at their sole discretion, which is legalese for saying they won't give a specific reason. If the terms say they will not notify you, it shall be included in the quote but if it does not explicitly say they will give you a notice, it can be reasonably inferred that they can do it without telling you.

5. 5.

   This service can license user content to third parties

   bad

   High

   By posting content through the Services, users grant them a transferable and/or sublicensable right, which allows user content to be licensed to third parties.

   Source quote / document
6. 6.

   This service keeps a license on user-generated content even after users close their accounts.

   bad

   High

   The service may still use your content and display it after you stopped using it by closing your account. The case applies to terms requiring users to grant them a perpetual license over that content.

   Source quote / document
7. 7.

   Tracking via third-party cookies for other purposes without your consent.

   bad

   High

   The service's website sets third-party cookies (cookies that do not belong to their domain) for purposes not including statistics and analytics.

   Source quote / document
8. 8.

   Some personal data may be kept for business interests or legal obligations

   bad

   High

   After the end of the data retention period and/or if you request the deletion of your data, they may still keep it for business interests (fraud detection, transactions...) or legal obligations (tax, legal reporting...)

Frequently asked questions

What is Reddit's ToS;DR privacy grade?

ToS;DR rates Reddit as Grade D. Grades range from A (best) to E (worst). See the full breakdown on ToS;DR.

Is Reddit's Terms of Service safe?

ToS;DR's Grade D means the terms raise serious concerns. Read the blocker and bad points carefully before accepting.

What is a top concern in Reddit's terms?

You sign away moral rights — Moral rights are rights to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, as well as directors of films. "The moral rights include the right of attribution, the right to have a work published anonymously or pseudonymously, and the right to the integrity of the work. The preserving of the integrity of the work allows the author to object to alteration, distortion, or mutilation of the work that is "prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation". Anything else that may detract from the artist's relationship with the work even after it leaves the artist's possession or ownership may bring these moral rights into play. Moral rights are distinct from any economic rights tied to copyrights. Even if an artist has assigned his or her copyright rights to a work to a third party, he or she still maintains the moral rights to the work." -Wikipedia In general, any terms that use the exact words "moral rights" as rights that are waived will fall under this Case. (Source: ToS;DR approved point).

Where can I read Reddit's official terms?

ToS;DR tracks "Terms of Service" at http://www.reddit.com/help/useragreement. Always prefer the official document over summaries.