4 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
Because they can store user-deleted comments and data indefinitely. It's in their terms of service that you agree to when creating your account with them. You grant them an irrevocable license to any content that you submit.
They can't store it indefinitely. It is explicitly stated in their privacy policy[1].
1: https://www.reddit.com/policies/privacy-policy
And the legality of PushShift storing user-deleted comments and data falls on PushShift's responsibility. Reddit isn't liable if illegal content remains available through Pushshift, the people hosting the content are always the people responsible for it.
That I disagree on. Reddit gives data to a third-party upon an agreement. If they fail to cutoff this access once they get knowledge that this third party violates the agreement (and therefore the agreement they made with users), that's on them as well.
That's why I'm very curious in what specifically Reddit and PushShift agrees on. If Reddit lets PushShift willingly violate both agreements with the user as well as laws, that's a major issue for Reddit.
Comment by iruleatants at 02/06/2023 at 23:13 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
They can't store it indefinitely. It is explicitly stated in their privacy policy.
Their privacy policy is not an agreement to anything. They can adjust that policy and ignore it with zero legal repercussions. At most, they have to follow the policy of law when it comes to privacy, which outside of the GDPR it's almost nonexistent.
"When Your Content is created with or submitted to the Services, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable, and sublicensable license to use, copy, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works of, distribute, store, perform, and display Your Content and any name, username, voice, or likeness provided in connection with Your Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed anywhere in the world. This license includes the right for us to make Your Content available for syndication, broadcast, distribution, or publication by other companies, organizations, or individuals who partner with Reddit. You also agree that we may remove metadata associated with Your Content, and you irrevocably waive any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to Your Content."
For legal purposes, they can keep the content that you create on reddit indefinitely.
That I disagree on. Reddit gives data to a third-party upon an agreement. If they fail to cutoff this access once they get knowledge that this third party violates the agreement (and therefore the agreement they made with users), that's on them as well.
There isn't something to disagree on here. The legality is straightforward. When you post on Reddit, you agree that the content you post is publicly available. If someone takes that data and copies it, they are legally responsible for the content that they copy. Reddit can go after PushShift for copying their content, or the user can go after PushShift for copying the content, but Reddit is **not** legally responsible for other parties copying publically provided data.
There is no legal liability to Reddit for PushShift existing. PushShift accesses content publically available to any user.
That's why I'm very curious in what specifically Reddit and PushShift agrees on. If Reddit lets PushShift willingly violate both agreements with the user as well as laws, that's a major issue for Reddit.
Please share what laws that PushShift accessing public data violates. The agreement with the user in the privacy policy states this.
When you submit content (including a post, comment, chat message, or broadcast) to a public part of the Services, any visitors to and users of our Services will be able to see that content, the username associated with the content, and the date and time you originally submitted the content. Reddit allows other sites to embed public Reddit content via our embed tools. Reddit also allows third parties to access public Reddit content via the Reddit API and other similar technologies. Although some parts of the Services may be private or quarantined, they may become public (e.g., at the moderator's option in the case of private communities) and you should take that into consideration before posting to the Services.