https://www.copyright.gov/ai/Copyright-and-Artificial-Intell...
Excerpt from the user agreement:
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. For example, this license includes the right to use Your Content to train AI and machine learning models, as further described in our Public Content Policy. 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.
People put their heads in the sand over reddit for some reason, but it's worse than FAANG. With respect to the content or other materials you upload through the Site or share with other users or recipients (collectively, “User Content”), you represent and warrant that you own all right, title and interest in and to such User Content, including, without limitation, all copyrights and rights of publicity contained therein. With respect to the content or other materials you upload through the Site or share with other users or recipients (collectively, “User Content”), you represent and warrant that you own all right, title and interest in and to such User Content, including, without limitation, all copyrights and rights of publicity contained therein. By uploading any User Content you hereby grant and will grant Y Combinator and its affiliated companies a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty free, fully paid up, transferable, sublicensable, perpetual, irrevocable license to copy, display, upload, perform, distribute, store, modify and otherwise use your User Content for any Y Combinator-related purpose in any form, medium or technology now known or later developed.It really is that simple.
Forcing something on people from a position of power is never in their favor.
As a user of Reddit, I think it’s cool, and also raises some concerns.
I think most sites that handle user data are going to have rough edges. Making money off of user content is never without issues.
The nature of network effects is such that once a site gets as big as reddit (or facebook or tiktok or whichever), it's nearly impossible for competition to take over in the same design space.
Many communities (both small and large) are only present on specific platforms (sometimes only one) and if you want to participate you have to accept their terms or exclude yourself socially.
Most communities on Reddit that I’d care to be a part of have additional places to gather, but I do take your point that there are few good alternatives to r/jailbreak, for example.
The host always sets its own rules. How else could anything actually get done? The coordination problem is hard enough as it is. It’s a wonder that social media exists at all.
Gatekeepers will always exist adjacent to the point of entry, otherwise every site turns extremist and becomes overrun with scammers and spammers.