REDDIT HAS RESPONDED to the leaking of nude imagery by banning all sexual imagery posted without consent.

The site has changed its privacy policy, which will go into effect on 10th March, prohibiting the act.

The change comes six months after stolen images of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, and Mary E Winstead were shared online, with Reddit being one of the main sources.

In the statement, the team said it “missed a chance to be a leader in social media when it comes to protecting your privacy,” and outlined the new change.

No matter who you are, if a photograph, video, or digital image of you in a state of nudity, sexual excitement, or engaged in any act of sexual conduct, is posted or linked to on Reddit without your permission, it is prohibited on Reddit. We also recognise that violent personalised images are a form of harassment that we do not tolerate and we will remove them when notified.

Part of the new guidelines include a section called ‘involuntary pornography‘ which gives a general email address contact@reddit.com if someone wants to remove such material.

The site has a number of forums or subreddits dedicated to such material. However, the major difference is such content is usually uploaded by the person responsible for it.

The practice of revenge porn, which is sharing sexually explicit images of a former partner online without their consent, is normally done to embarrass or humiliate a person and has been made illegal in the UK and Wales.

In a recent report, the Law Reform Commission said that there are gaps in harassment laws that need to be addressed first before it can be covered in Irish law.

This week, Google took a similar step by banning sexually explicit material from its blogging site. Any sites that features such content will be made private unless the material is presented in an artistic context.

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