Google Buys Access to Reddit Data, Raising Privacy Concerns

Google and Reddit have reached an agreement that enables the search engine giant to train its artificial intelligence models with postings from the online discussion platform, therefore enhancing services like Google Search.

Reddit will get access to Google AI models as part of the agreement, which was revealed on Thursday and is estimated to be worth $60 million, to enhance its internal site search and other services. Beyond its published announcement about the deal, Reddit failed to respond to inquiries or offer comments.

The San Francisco-based business also revealed details about its Wednesday initial public offering. Reddit claimed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it made a profit for the first time in two years, totaling $18.5 million, on $249.8 million in revenue for the October-December quarter. According to the firm, its goal is to list its shares under the ticker name RDDT on the New York Stock Exchange.

Reddit, which is governed by volunteer moderators to oversee its vast assortment of rambling topic-based debates, is taking a significant step forward with the Google partnership. These moderators have openly disagreed with past Reddit policies, most notably when Reddit declared that it will begin charging several third-party apps for access to its content, causing a major blackout of the website for several days.

Google, which is desperate for access to human-written content to train its AI models to enhance their "understanding" of the world and, consequently, their capacity to respond intelligently and in a conversational manner to queries, finds the data-sharing agreement to be extremely important.

It also establishes a standard for how tech corporations get data, even for publicly available information, for their expanding AI models to gorge on. A slew of well-known cases testing the future of massive language models such as ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence technologies that absorb vast amounts of online human works protected by copyright were filed in a federal court in New York in January.

Impact on Operations and Data Policies

According to a person familiar with the situation, the agreement with Google does not portend any kind of data-driven modifications to Reddit's operations. In order to talk freely during the SEC-enforced "quiet period" that precedes an IPO, this person sought anonymity. In contrast to social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, Reddit does not employ algorithms to predict what content users would find most interesting to see next. Instead, users only need to search for the discussion forums that interest them, after which they may join already-existing discussions or initiate new ones.

The person also mentioned that Reddit's user terms and privacy policy, which are somewhat different from those of other social media platforms, are mandated under the agreement and must be followed by Google. When users of Reddit remove articles or other information, for example, the content is removed from the site entirely, leaving no traces behind in strange places. The person stated that in order "to respect the choices that users make on Reddit," Reddit partners like Google must follow suit.

In a press statement, Google lauded Reddit, describing it as a storehouse for "an incredible breadth of authentic, human conversations and experiences" and emphasizing that its main goal is "to make it even easier for people to benefit from that useful information."

Google downplayed its interest in utilizing Reddit data to train its AI systems, focusing instead on how Reddit information-like product suggestions and travel tips-will be "even easier" for consumers to access through Google products.

The approach is referred to as "more content-forward displays of Reddit information" and is intended to improve Google's capabilities as well as facilitate Reddit participation.