IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Reddit aggregates porn, 'jailbait' and racist commentary

Looking for a daily fix of porn? You don't have to go any further than hyper popular social aggregator, Reddit, which carries a "sub-reddit" board brimming over with links to videos, suggestions for porn directors, nude photos and basically anything else with sexual overtones that would be considered "not safe for work."Porn is one of several topics that Reddit allows nearly free rein — others
Reddit's porn "sub-reddit"Today

Looking for a daily fix of porn? You don't have to go any further than hyper popular social aggregator, Reddit, which carries a "sub-reddit" board brimming over with links to videos, suggestions for porn directors, nude photos and basically anything else with sexual overtones that would be considered "not safe for work."

Porn is one of several topics that Reddit allows nearly free rein — others include under-age "jailbait" pictures and racist commentary — and that may account for its booming pageview numbers and a decision from its corporate parent to put some distance between them and it.

Reddit is a one-time Digg rival that has now surpassed it with a mind-boggling one billion pageviews per month in this, its sixth year. It's allegedly on the verge of partial sale by its corporate overlord, Conde Nast, according to a story by All Things D's Peter Kafka. Investors would have a stake in the property, worth an estimated $200 million, although Conde Nast would continue its ownership of the site.

Last summer, the site was clocking in 400 million-plus pageviews, so it's more than doubled its popularity in less than a year's time.

But one reason for its soaring numbers — and perhaps the distancing from Conde Nast — may lie in its less-than-innocent side. Or at least that's the speculation coming from Business Insider's Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry. According to Alexa, the two highest impact search queries on Reddit.com are "jailbait" and "ass." Reddit rules on searches for "jailbait," receiving nearly 29 percent of the traffic for those who want to indulge in pictures of the barely legal batch. (Wikipedia is close behind at 26 percent.) 

Gobry uses Alexa to point out that "around 9% of search traffic to Reddit comes from porn-related queries. Alexa statistics are probably not accurate because they rely on a toolbar, but they're a directional indicator that a significant part of Reddit's traffic is porn-related."

But Gobry also uses Google Trends to pinpoint the important of porn in Reddit's growth.

While a small part of Reddit's traffic, is also growing faster than the rest of the site. This means that if Reddit banned porn, their growth would be less impressive. This information also suggests that Reddit may be harder to monetize than you would think. You can't sell ads against this stuff.

The porn sub-reddit plays in the adults-only zone of the site, which means just clicking to confirm you're age 18 or over (and we know no one ever lies, right?). Censorship is not in effect, although there are lines that even Reddit draws:

Reddit is a pretty open and free speech place, but is not ok to post someone's personal information, or post links to personal information. This includes links to public Facebook pages and screenshots of Facebook pages with the names still legible. We all get outraged by the ignorant things people say and do online, but witch hunts and vigilantism hurt innocent people and initial information, including personal info found online, is often false. All such posts or comments will be removed by moderators or admins. Repeated offenders may be banned. Posting professional links to contact a congressman or the CEO of some company is fine, but don't post anything inviting harassment, don't harass, and don't cheer on or vote up obvious vigilantism.

Apparently these rules don't conflict with postings on the popular "jailbait" page, with more than 14,600 "ephebophiles" (indicating a sexual attraction to mid-teens). The site does lay down some ground rules here too, however:

This reddit is for NON-NUDE pictures and videos of teenage girls and boys who are possibly below the age of consent. Even though they're not nude, this reddit is marked '18+' (NSFW) so we don't have to hear about it anymore. Anything you can see on a public beach in the US is ok.

If the sexual stuff isn't a turn on, maybe the racist stuff will be more your thing. Boards with topics such as "The truth hurts: Why blacks fail at school," and "Black woman drags white man to death" leave little doubt as to what kind of opinions fuel some discussions on sub-reddits.

Or, maybe you find all this stuff offensive. Chances are, it won't matter to Reddit, which won't remove "allegedly defamatory content."

In its FAQ, Reddit explains:

US domain sites such as reddit.com are sites regulated only by U.S. law. Given this fact, and pursuant to Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act, we do not remove allegedly defamatory material from reddit.com. The only exception to this rule is if the material has been found to be defamatory by a court, as evidenced by a court order.

The Communications Decency Act fundamentally states that Internet services like reddit.com are republishers and not the publisher of that content. Therefore, these sites are not held liable for any allegedly defamatory, offensive or harassing content published on the site.

Please note that reddit does not remove posts for containing insults or negative commentary. While posts that contain such content can be distasteful, reddit is not in a position to arbitrate disputes.

The best way to deal with incorrect information on the Internet is to post the correct information next to it. The reddit community is usually very supportive of such a response, and will likely vote to give the correction greater prominence than the original post. Redditors love a good counterpoint.

And so do we. Your thoughts?

More stories:

Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who respects your right to free speech.