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Reddit said Friday that the Federal Trade Commission sent a letter to the company about it’s data-licensing business related to the training of third-party artificial intelligence systems.
“On March 14, 2024, we received a letter from the FTC advising us that the FTC’s staff is conducting a non-public inquiry focused on our sale, licensing, or sharing of user-generated content with third parties to train AI models,” Reddit said in an updated IPO prospectus.
Although Reddit’s core business relies on online advertising, the company detailed other possible monetization efforts, and is engaged in the “early stages” of its “data licensing efforts,” the filing said.
The company said it believes that “the opportunity does not conflict with our values and the rights of our Redditors,” which refers to the company’s user base that includes moderators.
“These programs may subject us to evolving approaches to the regulation of this data and implicates complex and developing data privacy and data protection, misappropriation, and intellectual property laws, rules, and regulations,” Reddit said.
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