Reddit and the Digital Services Act: What Changes for Brands

On August 31, the European Commission listed Reddit as a Very Large Online Platform under the Digital Services Act (“DSA”). Reddit has 57.2 million monthly users in the EU, well above the 45 million threshold. It has until January 2027 to meet the requirements.

A top comment on the Reddit thread asked: what are the new rules? The highest-ranked reply copied the DSA’s standard obligations: appeals, flagging, removal notices. Those were already in place and didn’t change. We will review what has changed in this article.

What the designation actually adds

Reddit has been under DSA coverage for a while. This ruling puts Reddit in the top tier, which means it has to comply with new rules that go beyond just removing content.

Four rules apply to brands:

A public advertising repository. Every ad shown to EU users must be saved for the duration of the campaign plus at least a year. Reddit must track each ad’s content, who paid for it, the main targeting settings, and how many people it reached. The data has to be searchable via an API.

Researcher access to public data. Independent researchers can get access to Reddit’s public data directly, with no vetting or regulator involvement. The researcher must not have commercial ties, must disclose funding, and must handle the data securely.

Published risk assessments and independent audits. Reddit must publicly disclose annual assessments of the systemic risks of its platform.

A public count of its moderation workforce. Transparency reports must state how many people Reddit assigns to content moderation in the EU. The numbers are broken down by official EU language, including their qualifications, language skills, and the training and support they get.

The last point is important, because Reddit moderators are almost always unpaid volunteers and Reddit doesn’t pay them. And yet, Reddit must still document training, language coverage, and support for a workforce for these moderators. The numbers it publishes are the first public figures showing how thin community moderation really is in each language, especially the ones customers use.

Learning from the one DSA fine the EU ever issued

In December 2025 the Commission fined X (formerly Twitter) €120 million in the first non-compliance decision in the history of the regulation.

The four breaches were:

Paid “verified” checkmarks that misled users,
An advertising repository missing ad content and payer details,
The platform being too slow and hard to search, and
X also failed to let researchers access public data, including terms of service that banned independent collection.

Two of the three obligations match what Reddit will have to start dealing with in January 2027.

The impact: Your paid Reddit advertising

You must track any ads aimed at EU users, including the creator, who paid for it, the targeting, and how many people saw it, in a public repository. All of that data must be retained for one year and it is searchable, so your ads become easier for competitors, journalists and researchers to view and analyze.

This designation only covers paid ads. It doesn’t include the names behind regular posts or comments and it doesn’t require anyone to reveal a commercial link behind organic content.

Public Reddit activity, including the data that’s already visible (e.g. posts, comments, timestamps, etc.) is now legally protected when studied systematically. It’s not something a platform can just shut down under its terms. X’s fine is evidence that the EU may also enforce this Reddit ruling.

I’ve written before about the market that’s grown around making Reddit content to shape what AI assistants say about a brand. That work has always faced two challenges: Reddit’s detection tools and the volunteer moderators who run the communities.

A third is now here. It’s patient. Well resourced. And it publishes freely.

“We’re a US brand. Does any of this reach us?”

Yes, if you are running ads that are shown to users in the EU. If you run Reddit ads at scale, there is a good chance some of them are visible to EU users. Public Reddit data isn’t split by region and a subreddit is a subreddit. So you may have to track these ads even if you are based in the US.

What to do about this EU DSA ruling

Look at your Reddit ad spend like an outsider would. Ask the person who runs your paid social to show you your Reddit live ads and how it’s targeted. Within a year, that list will be public, linked to your name, and stay online for twelve months after you stop running it. Most brands have never checked their own ad library with someone outside the team, so this is a useful first step to make sure you have ads that you are okay being publicly findable.

Watch the moderator headcount. When Reddit publishes how many people it assigns to moderate each EU language, we will all see how few moderators are in the platform. While you don’t have to worry about platform moderation (not your job) Reddit does. Reddit moderates to keep its own space safe and lawful.

That gap is a place to make sure you are staffed correctly. We’ve managed Reddit engagement for brands since January 2024, with real people, real accounts, and each community’s posted rules. If you want to see what proper coverage looks like for your brand, talk to a human.

A note on sourcing

FAQ

What is a Very Large Online Platform under the Digital Services Act (“DSA”)?

A platform with 45 million average monthly users in the EU, according to The European Commission designation. That means additional rules beyond the DSA, including annual risk reviews, independent audits, a public ad list, researcher access, and a feed with names scrubbed out. As of August 31, 2026, 28 platforms and search engines are on the list.

When does Reddit have to comply with the DSA’s VLOP obligations?

January 2027, four months after August 31, 2026. Penalties for not complying can reach up to 6% of global annual turnover. The deadline is firm, missing it means financial penalties, and that’s the rule, no exceptions.

Does the Digital Services Act apply to my brand?

The DSA doesn’t target brands directly. It focuses on platforms, marketplaces, and search engines. The practical effect on a brand is indirect: designated platforms must publish advertising repositories and open public data to independent researchers, so more of what happens on those platforms under a brand’s name becomes publicly documented and inspectable.

Will the DSA let me get a negative Reddit post about my brand removed?

No. The DSA only applies to illegal content, which is defined by EU or member-state law. A negative review, a critical post, or an unflattering comment is legal. There’s no new path under the DSA to take it down.

Can I see who is advertising on Reddit?

Once Reddit’s Article 39 repository goes live, ads shown to EU users must list the ad content, who paid for it, and the main targeting settings. That data stays searchable for at least one year after the ad ends.