You Can Now Block Political Ads on Reddit
Election season already takes up enough mental space, so Reddit is allowing its users to retain a modicum of sanity by allowing them to opt out of political ads.
The news emerged yesterday in a broader post on r/redditsecurity , where an admin said the company had updated its list of “sensitive ad categories” to include ads related to politics and activism. This means you can opt out of these classified ads using the site’s existing ad filtering tools, according to a Reddit changelog update also released yesterday.
Politics and activism join alcohol, dating, gambling, weight loss, pregnancy and parenting in the list of ads you can filter, as well as another recently added category, religion and spirituality.
To opt out of political advertising (or any other ad in the above categories) on your computer, go to reddit.com and click your profile page in the top right corner of the page, then click the cog next to Settings. Select the Settings tab and scroll down to the Limit Ads in Selected Categories button. Click on it to expand the list of radio buttons, then choose which ads to limit and click Done.
On Reddit for iOS or Android, tap your profile picture in the top right corner, then tap the gear icon next to Settings. Under Account Settings, click your username, wait for the next page to load, and scroll down to Sensitive Ad Categories. Switch the categories you want to see ads from and your account settings will update automatically.
The ability to filter political ads on Reddit comes after another post stated that politicians must now conduct an AMA with the Reddit community before being able to post political ads on Reddit. AI-generated content in political advertising must now also be clearly labeled.