PSA: You are legally entitled to receive a .zip file of all data related to your account that is stored on Reddit's servers.
PSA: You are legally entitled to receive a .zip file of all data related to your account that is stored on Reddit's servers.
https://www.reddit.com/settings/data-request
They must oblige within a certain time frame — even if your account has been suspended and I believe even if you've deleted your account. Curiously, this might be one effective way to protest. Golly I wonder what would happen if many people requested such reports simultaneously. It seems these must be processed manually by admins.
As a bonus, it's nice because all your comments and messages are searchable.
They're definitely automated. I doubt it'll do much in terms of protesting.
13If it was automated I don't think it would be an arbitrary time within the 30 day window, would it? Unless it's a low-priority task scheduled automatically for off-peak times.
9Got it in two.
It is either al ow priority task in the queue or they only process the queue when system load is sufficiently low that it won't impact users. This is pretty normal
8I got it the same day I requested it
3Did you try requesting your data? I got my data within a day. They probably mention 30 days because that's the legally defined deadline, and to give themselves some leeway in case the automated system has issues with some user.
It also makes sense for them to make it a low-priority task, as they have a really long deadline for it, and you don't want it affecting the main site.
1
If you're a European citizen. They'll fulfill this request (after 30 days) regardless, but I don't believe they're legally obligated to for US citizens.
It's just easier to comply with EU laws for everyone than it is for them to figure out if you're a European citizen or not.
10They are legally obligated for some US citizens. California (~40 million people) has a law similar to GDPR.
They also don't have a way to check where you live so you can do the request and select either option (GDPR or CCPA) and they will fulfill the request.
4I got mine in 30-60 minutes and it is only 10.4 Mb
1I have a feeling mine would be a few gigabytes. Videos images etc
1
Yet again the myth of it somehow hurting Reddit... It doesn't, it's definitely easier than sorting the hot feed computation-resources-wise. My company works with big data and getting yout GDPR data dump is a matter of minutes. And we probably have more data per user than Reddit does.
9Yeah the way the data is structured makes it looks like a straight dump from their databases that no doubt is automated.
The amount of data that they do provide in there is much more than I was expecting, compared to some other platforms I've seen that do the bare minimum by dumping some basic metadata for your account and that's it.
6Under GDPR they have to give you everything they have about you. Sure, they might skip some bits, but if it's too obvious that you're not giving everything, you open up yourself to some pretty big fines.
6
I'm sure you're right, but curious why it took so long to process my request? If it's automated and easy, why isn't it done immediately?
1My guess would be to sway your opinion - requesting your data often happens when you leave the service and very often it's because something on that service pissed you off.
If they take 2 weeks instead of 5 minutes, chances are you are going to calm down, change your mind and stay.
2
I really doubt an automated database dump is going to hurt them a whole lot. However, if you're looking to eliminate everything you've ever posted (and I mean everything, not just the few recent posts you see on your profile), redact.dev (possibly others too) can use that zip to find all your posts and comments and edit/delete them.
Now I'm not saying you should delete your data. I know many people believe that leaving it there benefits humanity as a whole or whatever, but if you are going to do it that's the only effective way.
9Yeah I created a lot of content for reddit, so there's the part of me that as a creator wants to pull my content from a platform that I don't want to profit off of me any longer.
But there's also the part of me that has seen my content get reposted endlessly, which to me is always fun to see. And I want the originals to be available to people still.
It's a tough call. I stopped posting anything after the app shutdown, and have basically all but stopped using the site, so I hold no attachment to my account at this point, I'd just hate for all of my content to become harder to find.
Maybe I should just set up my own instance or even just a website with all my gifs and such.
2
Can anyone speak to the difference of the data returned in the options given, or is it the same any they're just trying to do analytics?
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) / California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)
7...and if they don't? Because they haven't.
4Check your reddit inbox. I just checked mine and realized they fulfilled the request last month, but the download link has expired. I had to make a new request.
4It took like 2 weeks for me
2It's been several months
1Mine took at least that long too.
1
It is missing the r/place pixels ...
4"It seems these must be processed manually by admins."
What made you draw that conclusion?
4Everyone request.... No matter what.
3I do my best to forget all I said there.
2True. It's where I used to go to be 100% nonsensical and stupid. Fuck that place.
1
That could be a big zip file. They've got nothing better?
1it asks me to log-in
1You could try emailing them at RedditDataRequests@reddit.com
1
it's just a database dump
1Will this include comments that were "removed by Reddit"? Edit: it does not.
1Cries in .7z
1