How to Report a Subreddit

Reddit is known to be the place to find answers to a wide range of questions. It is divided into different communities called subreddit, which houses anything you can think of under the sun. 

To date, Reddit has logged over 52 million active users daily in 2020. Unfortunately, like any other social media platform, trolls are common on the site. Some might even run a subreddit with spammy, abusive content, or misinformation. 

If you think that a subreddit is currently sharing misinformation, you can report that subreddit. This article will discuss how to report a subreddit and other essential details you need to know. 

Reddit House Rules

Reddit’s policies are not as strict as other platforms, but its content policy is firmly upheld. However, it is difficult for moderators to spot and remove all the inappropriate subreddits, which allows users to report foul play and partially rely on them to be vigilant. 

Below is a list of what is prohibited on Reddit in terms of content. You can use this as a guide to check whether the subreddit you want to report is violating any of the rules. 

• Bullying, harassment, or threats
• Encouraging others to harass or bully people
• Involuntary pornography
• Promoting and encouraging violence
• Suggestive and explicit content involving persons under the age of 18
• Sharing and revealing someone’s confidential and personal information
• Trying to deceive people by impersonating someone or through a misleading manner
• Spamming
• Asking money or using Reddit to obtain gifts and services

Note: Nudity, pornography, and profanity are allowed on the platform. However, posts like this should be NSFW. If the posts are not properly tagged, the user will get punished. Otherwise, you can also report a subreddit when you see something like this. 

Reddit has various ways of dealing with problematic users. For example, they can simply ask the user to take down the post or, worse, ban them from the subreddit or the account itself. 

In addition, inappropriate content might get deleted, and users who posted it might get stripped of their privileges, quarantined, temporarily suspended, or completely removed from the platform. 

What to Do Before You Report a Subreddit

Before you report a subreddit, you need to build your case so that Reddit will know what to do to the community appropriately. Here are the things that you need to do before reporting:

• First, write a description of the issue and why you’re reporting the subreddit. 
• Second, compile links to the subreddit, posts, comments, and messages concerning the issue.
• Finally, list down all the usernames of the people involved in propagating content that violates Reddit House Rules. 

Remember that Reddit will not consider screenshots when checking the report as they can be easily edited and manipulated. If Reddit accepts your report, the subreddit will be banned. 

How to Report a Subreddit: 3 Methods

Reporting a subreddit can be done using three different methods, and the steps are easy to follow. Below are some instructions on how you can report a subreddit using various devices: 

Using a Computer With Reddit Account

1. Open your browser and go to Reddit. Log in to your account. 

2. Once logged in, go to the Reddit Report page. 

3. On this page, you can choose to report spam, abuse, or other issues. 
4. Once you’ve chosen what issue you’d like to report, you will be asked to specify the report further by choosing from one of the options listed that closely resembles your report. 

5. After choosing, you will be prompted to either enter the link, comment, message or ask you to select from another list of options. Some options will ask you to add more information about the report. In the additional information, you can add the subreddit link. 

6. Once done, click Submit. 

Now, Reddit will review your report and implement any necessary action that they deem appropriate. 

Using a Computer WIthout Reddit Account

There’s another way for you to report a subreddit using a computer, and this method does not require you to have an account with Reddit. Here’s how: 

1. Open your browser and visit Reddit’s Help request form. 

2. On this page, choose Report Content Policy Violation from the dropdown list. You can find this under “What do you need assistance with?”

3. After choosing the option above, Reddit will direct you to a page. Here, you need to fill out all the required information such as your email, subject of the report, additional details, nature of the violation, and any other attachments that will support your case. Lastly, don’t forget to check the two boxes regarding the information on the form and if you’ve read the content policy. 

4. Next, select Submit. 

Note:  Make sure you elaborate on your case and provide relevant links to the subreddit you want to report in the details of the inquiry. As mentioned before, don’t include any screenshots as Reddit will not consider them as anyone can easily manipulate them. 

Another thing, this method may take some time to get across the proper channels at Reddit, so you need to be patient. However, if you have a Reddit account, log in and report the subreddit rather than using this method, as it will have a quicker response. 

Using Web Browser of Your iOS or Android Device

If you don’t have a computer or prefer to use your mobile phone to report a subreddit, you can use your device’s web browser instead. Here’s how:

1. On your Android device, open your browser and go to Reddit.
2. On the Reddit site, locate the Contact page. Alternatively, you can type https://reddit.com/contact on the address bar.

3. On this page, select Message the admins option. 
4. Next, choose, Something else.

5. Then, pick the Content breaks Reddit’s rules option. 

6. Here you will see a list of all the violations; choose which one perfectly describes your report. Then, you will see the list of actions you can take. 

7. Fill out the additional information needed. Be sure to provide all vital information about your case along with the link to the subreddit you are reporting.

8. Lastly, click Submit

Report Suspicious Communities on Reddit

As one of the biggest social media platforms on the Internet, Reddit has millions of active users every day. Unfortunately, not all of them would follow the site’s content policy, and moderators will miss some of these inappropriate subreddits. However, you can help the site and the mods by reporting suspicious communities or those violating house rules. It can help you feel good, though you won’t earn Reddit Karma this way.