At the same time, there are fears around surveillance technology and AI infiltrating online communities, not to mention concerns about the ethical minefield of deploying such a tool.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman called out TikTok as being a “fundamentally parasitic” service, calling the app “spyware” during a conference due to concerns over how the service tracks users.

Reddit's 2014 Transparency Report stated it received no classified requests, but the lack of such a statement in the 2015 report raises privacy concerns.

Reddit does not require users to reveal their identities and stores less customer data overall compared to email or other social media such as Facebook, he said.