Start here: is the content yours?
If you posted it, you can delete it yourself. Open your profile, find the post or comment, use its three-dot menu and choose Delete. Deleting removes it from public view. Be careful with third-party "mass delete" tools: Reddit warns that they are not officially supported and may not work as intended.
Deleting your own post does not delete other people's comments on it, which belong to their authors, and it does not remove copies, quotes or screenshots elsewhere.
If someone else posted it: the five routes
- Ask the author to delete it. Sometimes possible, often not wise if the relationship is hostile.
- Moderators. Each community's volunteer moderators can remove content that breaks that community's rules. They act under Reddit's Moderator Code of Conduct.
- Reddit administrators. They remove content that breaks the Reddit Rules (harassment, personal information, impersonation and others) and can suspend accounts.
- Legal requests. Court orders, government requests and private-party demands. Reddit reviews each against the Reddit Rules first and may geo-block content that breaks local law.
- Copyright. A DMCA notice for works you own.
Match the problem to the route
- Your address, phone number or private documents were posted: report under Rule 3, then use Google's personal information removal.
- You are being targeted, threatened or followed across communities: Rule 1 (harassment), documented as a pattern.
- An account or community is pretending to be you or your company: Rule 5 (authenticity).
- Someone copied your photos, writing or video: DMCA notice.
- Someone states false facts about you or your business: report under the Rules if they apply, and keep evidence for a lawyer.
- It is simply negative, critical or embarrassing but civil and truthful: usually not removable. A measured public reply is the better tool.
Before you report anything
- Copy the permalink of each post and comment, not just the link to the post.
- Take dated screenshots: content can be edited or deleted within hours.
- Write down which rule you think is broken, and the exact lines that break it.
- Do not reply or argue. It can push the content up and gives people more to quote.
What to expect
Reddit does not publish typical response times. Its transparency report does show that admins act on a minority of reports: of 16,070,307 user reports in the second half of 2024, removal action followed on 9.3%. Reports fail mostly because they are duplicates or the content is judged non-violating. Reports that cite the specific rule and show the content do better.
When a specialist helps
When you are not sure which route applies, when the content is spread over many URLs, when you have already reported and been ignored, or when the stakes are high enough that one badly framed report could do damage. A specialist does not have a back door; they save you from the wrong route and build a stronger case.
How Reddit's two layers of moderation fit together
Reddit is not moderated from one place. Every community has its own volunteer moderators who write and enforce that community's rules, and Reddit's own staff, called administrators or admins, enforce the sitewide Reddit Rules across the whole platform. A post can break one set of rules without breaking the other, and it is worth knowing which one you are dealing with before you report anything.
Moderators are bound by Reddit's Moderator Code of Conduct, which Reddit introduced in 2022 and updated in 2024. It sets expectations for how moderators use their tools and makes clear that moderation tools, including bots and third-party apps, must not be used in ways that break the Reddit Rules. Reddit says it prefers to resolve problems through discussion first, but it may take action against moderators or communities that do not follow the code.
For anyone trying to have content removed, that means there are usually two doors. Moderators can act quickly on content that breaks their community's own rules. Administrators act on content that breaks the Reddit Rules, which covers things such as harassment, sharing personal information and impersonation. The guide on the Reddit Rules explains the difference in more detail.
How reporting works
Every post and comment has a report option. A report can reach the community's moderators, Reddit's administrators, or both, depending on what you say is wrong. Reddit also has a separate reporting form on its site for issues that need more space to explain, such as a problem affecting many items or a report that needs attachments.
Third-party explainers and community guidance say that moderators cannot see who submitted an individual report. Reddit's own help pages are the place to confirm that, but it is consistent with how people describe the system. Whichever way it works, you should avoid sharing details of your report with the person you are reporting.
What makes a report easier to act on
- One item per report, with its own permalink.
- The name of the rule, and the exact words or image that break it.
- A short, factual explanation in two or three sentences.
- Dated screenshots, in case the content is edited or deleted.
- No insults, threats or demands. Reviewers are people working through a long queue.
Removed, deleted, filtered: reading what Reddit shows you
Reddit does not delete pages or show a "page not found" error for removed content. The address still opens, and a notice takes the place of the original text. A post removed by a community's moderators can show as removed by the moderators. Content removed by Reddit's automated filters, for example as suspected spam, can show as removed by Reddit's filters. Content removed after a legal process can show as removed by Reddit's legal team. A banned community shows a banned notice, and a banned user's profile stays online with the username shown as "[deleted]".
The word "[deleted]" has two meanings worth keeping apart. On a post or comment it usually means the author deleted it. On a profile it is what you see when an account is deleted or banned. Knowing which one you are looking at tells you who acted and what the next step is.
Automated filters sometimes catch content by mistake. If your own post was removed by a filter, the usual advice from community guides is to message the moderators and ask them to review it. If someone else's post was removed and you want the decision to stay, there is nothing you need to do.
What deleting your own content does, and does not, do
You can delete your own posts and comments yourself. Deleting removes them from public view. Some consumer guides point out that deleted content may still exist in Reddit's systems, and that archives, scrapers and screenshots may hold copies, so deletion is not a guarantee that nothing remains anywhere.
Deleting your account is different from deleting your content. In general, deleting an account leaves your posts and comments visible, attributed to "[deleted]". If you want your content gone, delete it first, one item at a time or with a bulk tool, and delete the account afterwards. Deleting an account also does not remove other people's comments on your posts, because those belong to their authors.
When a legal route is the right one
Some problems do not fit the rules at all. A person may want a court order enforced, a government body may send a request, or a copyright owner may need a formal notice. Reddit reviews each of these. It looks first at whether the content breaks the Reddit Rules, and in some cases it restricts content in one country rather than removing it everywhere.
Legal routes are slower and more formal than a rules-based report, and they are the right choice only when the rules do not apply. If you are not sure, the guide on legal references explains how courts and platforms treat this kind of content, and the DMCA guide covers copyright.
Your action plan
- 1
Capture the evidence
Save the permalink of every post and comment, with dated screenshots. Content can be edited or deleted within hours.
- 2
Decide whose content it is
Yours: delete it. Someone else's: go to the route that matches the problem.
- 3
Choose the route
Rule-breaking content goes to moderators or Reddit. Copied work goes through a DMCA notice. Court orders and government requests are handled as legal requests.
- 4
File one precise report
Name the rule, quote the lines that break it and link each item. Short and specific beats long and angry.
- 5
Record the outcome
Note the date and what Reddit shows afterwards. A removal notice, a "no action" reply and silence each lead to a different next step.
- 6
Check search results
Search engines update on their own schedule. If the page still appears, ask the search engine to refresh it once the source is gone.
Evidence checklist
- The permalink of each post and each comment, not just the post link
- Dated screenshots showing username, community and full text
- The rule you think is broken, and the exact lines that break it
- Whether the content names you, your business or someone else
- Every earlier report you made and any reply you received
- A note of where the content appears in search results
Common mistakes
Replying or arguing first
A reply can push a post up, add words to the record and give people more to quote.
Reporting the same thing many times
Repeated reports from several accounts look like misuse of the report tool. One clear report is stronger.
Calling criticism "defamation"
Reviewers apply rules, and courts separate opinion from false statements of fact. Name the rule, not the feeling.