Skip to main content

Reddit is eliminating explicit content from its public homepage

reddit new profile pages photos
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Reddit is introducing changes to its public homepage in an attempt to present a more sanitized version of its site to new users.

The social news aggregation site announced the update in the form of a Reddit post on Wednesday. Visitors to Reddit who don’t want to sign up or log-in will now see a more “diverse” range of content, claims the platform. What they won’t see are posts from not-safe-for-work communities and adult subreddits, communities that are commonly filtered from the default front page by members, and the subreddits that have chosen to opt out of the front page altogether.

Recommended Videos

Reddit has fittingly dubbed the new page r/popular, whereas in the past it was called r/all. For those users that still want to access the previous front page, you can select it from the gray navigation bar at the top of the site. Both versions contain overlapping results as they both focus on surfacing the most popular user submitted posts.

r/all is “all” so it has a lot of NSFW content that logged out users don’t want to see,” explained Reddit admin Simbawulf in the announcement.

When asked by users to elaborate on the types of communities that were being filtered out, Simbawulf responded: “For example, subreddits that are large and dedicated to specific games are heavily filtered, as well as specific sports, and narrowly focused politically related subreddits, etc.”

This immediately led to accusations of censorship, which remains a sensitive subject on the site. However, Reddit insists that r/popular is more democratic than its predecessor, and offers a more “inclusive” experience by opening the door to more communities to make it on the front page. In the announcement, Simbawulf also revealed Reddit is working on an algorithmic filter for NSFW content that it may implement in the future.

Logged-in users, on the other hand, won’t be impacted by the change. Members will still see their usual front page consisting of their subscribed subreddits when they log in. Active users that wish to access the new r/popular page can do so via the navigation bar.

Saqib Shah
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more
Here’s how to delete your YouTube account on any device
How to delete your YouTube account

Wanting to get out of the YouTube business? If you want to delete your YouTube account, all you need to do is go to your YouTube Studio page, go to the Advanced Settings, and follow the section that will guide you to permanently delete your account. If you need help with these steps, or want to do so on a platform that isn't your computer, you can follow the steps below.

Note that the following steps will delete your YouTube channel, not your associated Google account.

Read more