- Official min age
- 13+
- Users
- 1.5 billion monthly active users
- Content types
- Discussion threads Text posts Links Photos Videos Live chat
What is Reddit?
Reddit is a social news aggregation and discussion platform organised into communities called subreddits. Each subreddit is focused on a specific topic — from technology and science to hobbies, TV shows, mental health, and much more. Users submit links, text posts, photos, and videos, and other users vote content up or down and leave comments.
Founded in 2005, Reddit is home to millions of communities, many of which provide genuine peer support, expertise, and discussion. It is also one of the largest anonymous platforms on the internet, which has both benefits and significant risks.
What parents should know
Reddit contains an enormous range of content, from helpful and educational to deeply disturbing. Because accounts are anonymous by default, users feel less inhibited, and subreddits dedicated to hate, self-harm, pro-eating disorder content, pornography, and other harmful material exist alongside mainstream communities.
While Reddit requires users to confirm they are 18 to access adult communities, no actual age verification takes place. Age-restricted subreddits containing explicit content can be accessed simply by checking a box. The minimum age of 13 is similarly based on self-declaration.
Key risks include exposure to graphic content, self-harm and eating disorder communities, hate speech, and radicalising material. Reddit has been linked to the spread of pro-suicide methods and, historically, to communities that facilitated exploitation of young people. The anonymous nature also makes it difficult to track who a child is speaking with. Many teenagers use Reddit regularly without their parents being aware — open conversations about what they are reading and which communities they follow are important.
Current trends on Reddit
No trends found