July 18, 2023
Reddit has deleted all user chats and messages prior to 2023, claiming it is part of a new chat architecture implementation.
The deletion notice which was hidden in a post on June 22, with two other announcements. It also didn’t say clearly that older messages would be deleted. Many users missed it and didn’t know their messages before 2023 would be deleted from June 30th. Some users even lost their chats before June 30th.
A Reddit spokesperson confirmed to Mashable that the company deleted all chats and messages sent before January 1, 2023. The spokesperson said the removal was necessary to “ensure a smooth transition to our new chat infrastructure.”
Reddit added said that users can submit a data request to retrieve their old chats by going to the Reddit website and log in to their account. Once they are logged in, they can click on the “Settings” tab and then select “Data Request.” Once they have submitted a data request, Reddit will email them a link to download their data. The data will include all of their chats and messages, including those that were deleted on June 30.
The sources for this piece include articles in CanadianReviewer and Android Police.
