Is Reddit Safe for Kids?

Reddit is a highly regarded website in terms of social interaction. Often, when you ask Google a question, Reddit answers created by users come up in the results. This means Google considers this website to be valuable to users.  This is often not the case with other social media platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

That said, when it comes to video search, Reddit is not as popular because it wasn’t designed to be a video posting website.  Sure, you can embed videos in Reddit posts, but users tend to be more about posting information, asking questions, and answering those questions for others. On video searches you’ll see more from YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook.

Our safe search results, which is enhanced by Google, will automatically filter out any results provided by Redditt.  This is a blanketed precaution because Reddit is a site for older teens and adults.

Reddit Safety Concerns:  Is it Safe?

When it comes to the safety of Reddit, especially for kids, parents need to be aware of a myriad of dangers.  At it’s core, Reddit offers a platform for discussions on a wide variety of subjects, and as you may expect, not all content is appropriate for younger audiences. Nor should it be assumed that everything is AOK for older teens either.

Like all social media platforms, kids need to be at least 13 years of age to join.  Here are some key safety concerns and considerations for parents:

Unmoderated Content

Some subreddits (communities within Reddit) may contain explicit, violent, or inappropriate content. According to Reddit’s content policy, the site strives to remove and ban users who post such material that is against their guidelines.  Still, even that which is legal and within Reddit’s standards of acceptability may be harmful for kids.

Unfiltered Discussions

Unlike some platforms that control content for younger audiences, Reddit allows for open conversations on virtually any topic. That concept alone should make it obvious that Reddit may be one of the least safe websites for kids.   This is not to take anything away from the integrity of moderators, who are devoted to creating a safe environment for users to interact.

Direct Messaging

Reddit has a private messaging feature, which opens the door to sketchy messages from strangers.  These direct messages into the user inbox or chat requests can also be disabled.

Lack of Parental Controls

Reddit doesn’t have robust parental control features. There are privacy settings and content filters, such as NSFW (Not Safe For Work), but these can be turned off as easily as it’s turned on.

Reddit Privacy and Preference Settings

Here is a screenshot of Reddit’s privacy settings: Users can restrict followers, restrict various types of messages, prevent chat requests, and block accounts.

And here is a look at the preference settings:  Users can show or disallow mature content.  Mature images can be blurred. They can also limit what shows up in the user home feed.

Even a quick glance at these options it’s fairly obvious that Reddit is not ideal for kids.  Parents will need to decide how they feel about older teens being on the site.  As with all social media platforms, no one under 13 years of age can join.  That’s doesn’t mean kids under 13 don’t have accounts. Even so, if a user lies about their age when signing up for Reddit, they could potentially have access to mature 18+ content.  This is not the case with websites like Instagram and even TikTok who have stricter content guidelines and more scrutinising moderation.

What Parents Can Do

Enable Safe Browsing

As we’ve explored in the screenshots above, safe browsing settings via Reddit’s privacy and preference tabs do in fact exist, but they can be turned on and off instantly at any time.  Parents may want to only allow their 13+ kids to use Reddit on a shared account.  It would also be advisable to only allow access with supervision.

For parents who have already decided to ban the use of Reddit in their home, there is still the issue of Reddit coming up in Google search results. This is the case with any website related to an innocent search term.  With strict safe search settings, the Reddit website may be restricted at all times.  At the very least, bad content will be blocked.  However, once a child clicks a search results they will be taken to an external website, including Reddit.

Talk About Reddit

Regularly discuss with your child what they encounter online and ensure they understand online safety, including how to report abusive or inappropriate content. Reddit has a few family-friendly subreddits, such as r/explainlikeimfive (which gives simplified explanations of complex topics).  Still, monitoring should be a top priority at all times.

Ultimately, Reddit can be suitable for older teens who are responsible digital users. This means they adhere to maintaining strict privacy and preference settings, but younger teens more guidance and restrictions.

External Parental Controls

If your children are freely surfing the web without regular monitoring, the sky is the limit to what they may find.  Ultimately, implementing a 3rd party parental controls will restrict access to any website and can limit the use of any social media app.

The default settings for the typical parental control program will more the likely fully restrict the use of the Reddit app and block the website as well.  This is because it’s generally deemed as a site that’s not safe for kids.