Reddit, Inc. — Ethics Grade C

Reddit, Inc. receives an overall ethics grade of C (52/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Social Media. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 55
• privacy: 30
• consumer: 45
• environment: 70
• humanRights: 40

Documented incidents (3)

• API Pricing Controversy (medium, 2023) — Reddit introduced drastic API price hikes that forced popular third-party apps like Apollo to shut down. This move was criticized as anti-competitive and sparked a massive sitewide protest from thousands of community moderators.
• Delayed Action on Hate Speech (high, 2021) — Critics and former employees have lambasted Reddit for its inconsistent moderation of 'incel' and extremist subreddits. For years, the platform allegedly prioritized user growth over removing communities that incited violence against women.
• Google AI Data Deal (medium, 2024) — Reddit signed a $60 million deal giving Google access to its user-generated content to train AI models. Users expressed concern over the monetization of their personal discussions and the lack of an opt-out mechanism for existing data.

Documented good deeds

• Mod Council Formation — Launched a Moderator Council to directly involve volunteer community leaders in platform policy decisions.

Ethical alternatives

• Mastodon — Decentralized, non-profit architecture with no data selling or corporate censorship pressures.