u/CR29-22-2805

The Garrett Discovery report about Kohberger's alleged social media accounts and connections keeps getting referenced over three years after it was first published. This report has serious flaws that I probe below.

Summary

On August 14, 2026, Steve Goncalves claimed that Bryan Kohberger had a digital history of watching graphic content of women undergoing plastic surgery procedures. This claim seems to have originated from data provided through a report published by Garrett Discovery and analysis from an OSINT company called ShadowDragon.

(This claim is separate from information provided by Jared and Heather Barnhart—experts at Cellubrite hired by prosecutors—that Kohberger had a history of watching violent pornography on his devices.)

In January 2023, Garrett Discovery published a social-media mapping report shortly after Bryan Kohberger's arrest that attributed an Instagram account labeled "Bryan Kohberger" to Kohberger himself and mapped more than 100 connections from the account. The report appears to connect that account to Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, and ShadowDragon later stated that Kohberger followed "two of the four victims" on social media. However, the report does not disclose the Instagram account's username, profile URL, numerical ID, creation date, or other evidence showing that it actually belonged to Kohberger. This is an important limitation because the analysis was conducted only after his identity and some personal information were already public.

The central question is therefore not whether Garrett Discovery found an Instagram account associated in some way with the name "Bryan Kohberger," but how Garrett determined that the account actually belonged to Kohberger before drawing conclusions from its activity and connections.

Conclusion: Taken together, the available evidence makes it unlikely that Garrett Discovery's "Bryan Kohberger" Instagram entity can be reliably tied to Kohberger himself, substantially undermining any conclusions drawn from that account's activity or connections. The report does not disclose sufficient authentication evidence, and its claims are difficult to reconcile with law enforcement's later statement that investigators found no social-media connection between Kohberger and the victims.

What the Garrett Discovery report shows

The report contains an Instagram User entity labeled:

>Bryan Kohberger

That entity has:

• 108 outgoing links
• 109 total links

Garrett apparently expanded the social-media network from this node. However, the published PDF does not disclose:

• the account's Instagram username;
• its profile URL;
• its numerical Instagram user ID;
• its creation date;
• its full Maltego entity properties;
• the source of the account's single incoming link; or
• the evidence used to authenticate the account as Kohberger's.

The report therefore shows that Garrett analyzed an Instagram entity it labeled "Bryan Kohberger," but it does not provide enough information for readers to independently determine whether the underlying account actually belonged to him.

Source (PDF): https://www.garrettdiscovery.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Bryan-Kohberger-Social-Mapping-by-Garrett-Discovery-1.pdf

Methodology

Seed-and-pivot OSINT/link-analysis investigation. Start with one known identifier, follow the connections it reveals, and then follow those connections further to build a map of the person’s apparent online network.

• Seed = the starting piece of information.
• Pivot = using something newly discovered as the basis for another search.
• OSINT = intelligence gathered from publicly available sources.
• Link analysis = mapping the relationships among the people, accounts, identifiers, and other data that are found.

The Garrett PDF appears to have been generated from Maltego, using ShadowDragon SocialNet as an investigative data source.

• Garrett Discovery = the investigator
• ShadowDragon = the OSINT company
• SocialNet = ShadowDragon’s social-media discovery/link-analysis tool and data source
• Maltego = the apparent graphing/reporting environment used to produce the Garrett PDF

(While I have experience with Maltego, I have no experience with SocialNet.)

These are the steps of the Garrett Discovery analyst:

• enters an identifier into Maltego
• runs a SocialNet transform (A transform is a search operation that turns one known data point into related data points.)
• SocialNet searches its accessible OSINT sources
• results are returned to Maltego as entities and links
• Garrett selects some returned entities and runs additional transforms
• Maltego builds the network graph
• Garrett exports the graph as the PDF report.

Methodological Limitations

SocialNet does not provide Meta's private account records. SocialNet could search and correlate information exposed through public or otherwise OSINT-accessible sources, but it did not give Garrett privileged access to a social-media company's backend account records.

A SocialNet result, therefore, was not necessarily proof of account ownership.

For example, a search could potentially associate an email address, username, phone number, or public display name with a social-media account. But an apparent association is different from Meta confirming through its internal records that a particular person registered, verified, or controlled that account.

The results of these searches therefore needed to be independently vetted for false positives and misattributions before they could reliably be attributed to Kohberger.

Timing creates an additional attribution problem.

• December 30, 2022: Kohberger is publicly identified following his arrest.
• Early January 2023: Garrett conducts the social-media analysis.

By the time Garrett began its investigation, Kohberger's name, photographs, schools, WSU affiliation, and some email addresses were already public.

This creates a potential post-arrest contamination problem. Once his identifying information became widely available, third parties could create impersonation accounts, reuse his name, or associate publicly known identifiers with online content.

This means that post-arrest associations required additional authentication before they could safely be treated as evidence of Kohberger's own online activity.

Email Addresses

Garrett's report contains Kohberger's institutional email addresses associated with DeSales University and Washington State University:

• bk5781 (DeSalesUniversity)
• bryan.kohberger (WSU)

These addresses were publicly discoverable before his arrest.

However, Garrett's PDF does not demonstrate that the Instagram entity labeled "Bryan Kohberger" was discovered through—or otherwise linked to—either institutional email address.

The report also does not contain several private email addresses later attributed to Kohberger in the court record:

• bkohberger (Northampton Community College, registered to Apple account)
• bryanchristopher1994
• wifiarmyowns (Registered to Apple account)
• yewsirneighm

Source: https://coi.isc.idaho.gov/docs/CR01-24-31665/2025/021925-Order-Defedants-Motions-Suppress-ATT-Google-USB-Apple-Amazon.pdf

ShadowDragon's Claims

Despite these attribution limitations, ShadowDragon drew substantive conclusions from the Instagram network. It stated that its SocialNet analysis had "discovered that Kohberger followed two of the four victims on social media," and went on to characterize the women associated with the account as evidence of "lifestyle objectification":

>[W]e find that many of the women Kohberger follows online appear to be women he objectifies. Another example is a specific plastic surgeon he follows [redacted for Reddit], further showcasing a pattern of lifestyle objectification. This lifestyle of objectification, along with possible psychopathy...

Source: https://shadowdragon.io/resources/idaho-murder-investigation-osint-social-media-network-vegas-shooter/

(Note: That republished blog post is dated August 4, 2026, although the original post was indexed on January 12, 2023, as indicated here: https://shadowdragon.io/resources/category/blog/?topic=news-and-commentary )

https://preview.redd.it/utklowl940kh1.png?width=1116&format=png&auto=webp&s=3181e28c36a320718c7274d7b4ba4d3e0e941d0e

Garrett later confirmed that he had conducted the original analysis shortly after the murders and before speaking with the defense:

>I ran this after the murders and before I spoke with the defense. Then I gave this to Kaylee's attorney. About a year later someone said I leaked this and I pointed them to the old post we made.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/clemensdaniel_garrett-discovery-inc-pushed-my-curiosity-activity-7019055705605234688-9Eyj

The analysis made by ShadowDragon was later repeated by Steve Goncalves during an interview with the Drunk Turkey YouTube channel.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/live/NMVJ5g_MTB8?si=GXC-cihyUsEOiwSu&t=1549

These conclusions depend on a threshold premise: that the Instagram account being analyzed actually belonged to Bryan Kohberger.

The published report does not disclose the evidence establishing that premise.

Law Enforcement's Investigation

Law enforcement had a different method of obtaining Instagram evidence: search warrants served directly on Meta.

Investigators served multiple Meta warrants for Instagram data associated with people involved in the case, including residents of the crime scene. Those warrants could obtain records directly from the platform rather than relying solely on publicly observable correlations.

However, there is no document in the public court docket that I have identified showing that investigators served Meta with a search warrant for an Instagram account belonging to Bryan Kohberger.

That absence is notable because investigators did obtain extensive records from other services and accounts associated with Kohberger.

The lead investigator also stated during the post-conviction press conference in July 2025:

>We had every resource possible ... we have never to this date found [a connection] between him and any of the four victims.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/live/NMVJ5g_MTB8?si=_54cby6haI1Ar6SE&t=1549

That statement is difficult to reconcile with a social-media analysis portraying Kohberger as following or otherwise connected to victims unless (1) Garrett and law enforcement were relying on materially different evidence, and Garrett found evidence within three weeks that law enforcement failed to find within nearly three years; or (2) Garrett's attribution of the Instagram account was incorrect.

I think the latter: Garrett's report and ShadowDragon's analysis were based on an erroneous central node—an account edited or created to mislead the public—without which much of the data in the report disappears.

I typically don't share bot group information in this level of detail, but this group is large enough that publicly sharing the information probably outweighs the costs. This bot group contains over 1,000 accounts.

Bot Bouncer already catches some of them. I typically sweep subreddits for these accounts at least once a day and submit the rest.

Username regex: ^[a-z]+\d[a-z]+\d{4}$

Username tokens (leetspeak):

5mooch, 5nacc, 5nickers, 5nuggle, 5nugglebug, 5parkles, 5prinkle, 5tarry, 5unshine, 7affy, 7inker, 7ootsie, 7winkle, b0ba, b3rry, bu7tercup, c0okie, c0zy, ch3esy, ch3rry, cl0udy, cupc4ke, d0odle, d1mple, d4isy, fr0ggy, g1ggles, g1ngersnap, gl1tter, gumdr0p, h0neydew, j3llybean, l0llipop, l3monade, m0onpie, m4rshy, muff1n, n0odle, p0pcorn, p0ppy, p1gtails, p3aches, p3achy, p3bbles, p3tal, pudd1ng, w4ffle, z3sty

Some of the beginning username tokens—e.g. adrienne, alma, alyssa—also repeat, but there are over 400 and I will not list them here.

Targeted subreddits:

Most common: r/airpods, r/okbuddycinephile, and r/Spiderman. Others: r/10s, r/AltSelfies, r/AmazingStories, r/kidsarefuckingstupid, r/nextfuckinglevel.

Examples:

https://www.reddit.com/user/adrienned4isy1258
https://www.reddit.com/user/almap3aches7278
https://www.reddit.com/user/alyssal3monade2211
https://www.reddit.com/user/angelacupc4ke6240
https://www.reddit.com/user/angelica5nacc5098
https://www.reddit.com/user/anniecupc4ke5408
https://www.reddit.com/user/beatricec0zy3625
https://www.reddit.com/user/berthab0ba3676
https://www.reddit.com/user/bethany7ootsie3684
https://www.reddit.com/user/blancah0neydew6705
https://www.reddit.com/user/bridget5tarry7640
https://www.reddit.com/user/carmenl0llipop9472
https://www.reddit.com/user/carol5nuggle1966
https://www.reddit.com/user/ceciliaz3sty6273
https://www.reddit.com/user/cherylch3esy5813
https://www.reddit.com/user/christinach3rry4930
https://www.reddit.com/user/clairech3esy4363
https://www.reddit.com/user/clairel3monade4019
https://www.reddit.com/user/daisyw4ffle4044
https://www.reddit.com/user/darlag1ngersnap3083
https://www.reddit.com/user/dellac0okie7347
https://www.reddit.com/user/denisep3tal9748
https://www.reddit.com/user/dianad0odle6688
https://www.reddit.com/user/dianebu7tercup8354
https://www.reddit.com/user/dorag1ggles8894
https://www.reddit.com/user/ednam0onpie3598
https://www.reddit.com/user/elsab0ba3194
https://www.reddit.com/user/elvirap0pcorn5458
https://www.reddit.com/user/emilyz3sty9620
https://www.reddit.com/user/ericac0zy4083
https://www.reddit.com/user/erikag1ngersnap9515
https://www.reddit.com/user/essie5nugglebug8626
https://www.reddit.com/user/ethel5parkles9844
https://www.reddit.com/user/eulapudd1ng8477
https://www.reddit.com/user/eunicecl0udy3220
https://www.reddit.com/user/flora5mooch3922
https://www.reddit.com/user/francisw4ffle5723
https://www.reddit.com/user/gayle5nacc4498
https://www.reddit.com/user/gracep0pcorn5468
https://www.reddit.com/user/hattie7affy4339
https://www.reddit.com/user/hazelp3achy8719
https://www.reddit.com/user/hildab3rry1999
https://www.reddit.com/user/idach3rry2766
https://www.reddit.com/user/idad1mple8301
https://www.reddit.com/user/irenem0onpie7166
https://www.reddit.com/user/irmad0odle3829
https://www.reddit.com/user/janafr0ggy4747
https://www.reddit.com/user/janam4rshy3785
https://www.reddit.com/user/janisj3llybean2591
https://www.reddit.com/user/janp1gtails2210
https://www.reddit.com/user/jeannem4rshy5161
https://www.reddit.com/user/jeannettegl1tter9151
https://www.reddit.com/user/jeannie7ootsie1937
https://www.reddit.com/user/josefina5mooch7968
https://www.reddit.com/user/joyce5unshine7183
https://www.reddit.com/user/joycep3bbles1172
https://www.reddit.com/user/katrinap3tal5721
https://www.reddit.com/user/kendra5nuggle9587
https://www.reddit.com/user/kristyb3rry8155
https://www.reddit.com/user/krystal7winkle5083
https://www.reddit.com/user/krystaln0odle3105
https://www.reddit.com/user/lelagumdr0p7847
https://www.reddit.com/user/leonamuff1n7551
https://www.reddit.com/user/lesliep0ppy6640
https://www.reddit.com/user/lucyd4isy6532
https://www.reddit.com/user/lucyfr0ggy5128
https://www.reddit.com/user/mariep1gtails1302
https://www.reddit.com/user/marshagumdr0p6185
https://www.reddit.com/user/marshah0neydew6355
https://www.reddit.com/user/maureen5parkles9980
https://www.reddit.com/user/meganp0ppy3819
https://www.reddit.com/user/melanie5unshine3700
https://www.reddit.com/user/melbag1ggles3870
https://www.reddit.com/user/melindad1mple8010
https://www.reddit.com/user/michelecl0udy3221
https://www.reddit.com/user/mirandan0odle4634
https://www.reddit.com/user/myrapudd1ng3293
https://www.reddit.com/user/myrtle5prinkle8845
https://www.reddit.com/user/myrtle7inker3165
https://www.reddit.com/user/nancybu7tercup1149
https://www.reddit.com/user/nataliep3bbles7413
https://www.reddit.com/user/pamela7inker1999
https://www.reddit.com/user/robynj3llybean7231
https://www.reddit.com/user/rosa5tarry3558
https://www.reddit.com/user/roxannec0okie6816
https://www.reddit.com/user/sandra7affy7425
https://www.reddit.com/user/shelia5prinkle2330
https://www.reddit.com/user/sherri5nugglebug8530
https://www.reddit.com/user/silviap3achy3348
https://www.reddit.com/user/sue7winkle4094
https://www.reddit.com/user/thelmagl1tter4359
https://www.reddit.com/user/tracey5nickers4830
https://www.reddit.com/user/traceyl0llipop2872
https://www.reddit.com/user/vicki5nickers7368
https://www.reddit.com/user/vickyp3aches7343
https://www.reddit.com/user/yvettemuff1n4989

Have a good weekend, everyone. 😊

Brent Turvey seems to have made contradictory statements regarding the alleged "clump of hair" found in Ethan Chapin's hand at the crime scene.

Turvey made these claims in separate interviews and cited evidence relevant to multiple case files. I have outlined Turvey's claims below along with the relevant evidence below.

January 4, 2023: Date on the FBI Lab Report.

• "Item 3 Debris from right hand of Ethan J. Chapin (MPD #22M-1884)" (Source PDF, p. 3)
• "Items submitted from Ethan Chapin... were examined for hairs microscopically consistent with hairs in the head hair sample from Bryan Christopher Kohberger... however, none were found." (PDF, p. 6)
• "Additional debris from [Item] 3... has been preserved for possible future comparisons." (PDF, p. 6)

Source: https://coi.isc.idaho.gov/docs/CR01-24-31665/2025/060625+Stipulated+Motion+to+the+Admission+of+Additional+Exhibits+as+Evidence+at+Trial.pdf

January 6, 2023: Investigators return to the crime scene to collect additional evidence at the request of the defense.

• "Item 442 Bed Frame"
• "On January 6, 2023, [Det. Payne] went back to 1122 King Road with several members of the Idaho State Police and the FBI in order to collect several pieces of evidence at the request of the defense counsel in this case. Once on scene, we collected the mattress, bed frame, night stand, pillows and blankets from Kernodle's room."

Source: MPD Supplemental Report 110

December 12, 2024: Brent Turvey traveled to Moscow to examine the bed frame that was in Xana Kernodle's bedroom at the time of the homicides. (Source PDF, p. 916)

Source: https://coi.isc.idaho.gov/docs/CR01-24-31665/2025/012325+REDACTED+Exhibits+to+Defendants+Supplemental+Response+to+Request+for+Discovery+Re+Expert+W.pdf

According to Fox News in an article published July 2026, Turvey noticed around "two dozen" hair strands on part of the bed frame where Chapin's hand would have been resting.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/true-crime/bryan-kohbergers-stunning-claims-draw-fiery-response-from-defense-expert-who-uncovered-key-evidence

January 23, 2025: Date on the report produced by Brent Turvey to the defense.

Turvey indicates that he reviewed "extensive" materials about the case, including but not limited to reports produced by the FBI and "related law enforcement photos." (Source PDF, p. 915)

Turvey details Chapin's defensive wounds but does not mention any hair discovered in his hands or on the bed frame. (PDF pages 930–931)

Source: https://coi.isc.idaho.gov/docs/CR01-24-31665/2025/012325+REDACTED+Exhibits+to+Defendants+Supplemental+Response+to+Request+for+Discovery+Re+Expert+W.pdf

January 23, 2025: Date on report produced by Ruth Ballard.

• "FBI Lab Item 3: One hair from the right hand. Morphologically consistent with Decedent Chapin’s own reference hair. Morphologically dissimilar to Defendant’s reference hair." (Source PDF, p. 12)

Source: https://coi.isc.idaho.gov/docs/CR01-24-31665/2025/012325+REDACTED+Exhibits+to+Defendants+Supplemental+Response+to+Request+for+Discovery+Re+Expert+W.pdf

May 2026: Turvey gives an interview to Donna Rotunno in which he says the following:

• "[T]he hair is in the report. That's all in there. And Taylor knew about that, the hair in Ethan's hand."
• "In this case, what you have, Ethan's right hand, is a clump of hair in his hand and that hand falls down between the bed frame and the wall, and the blood goes down his arm, and it essentially seals his hand to the bed frame, sealing hair to the bed frame, sealing the hair to his hand. It's a large clump."
• "And then it gets written up in the investigative reports and the autopsy reports as 'debris,' not his hair. There's no mix of items there. It's just the hair and it's a big clump."
• "You need to know, did Ethan grab out and pull somebody's hair out or was the hair placed there? We don't know."
• "[I]t was sent to the FBI lab, and the FBI says, oh, 'we examined the hair and we looked at the physical characteristics, and Bryan Kohberger is excluded,' but they didn't compare it to anybody else in the house or any other suspects."
• Turvey and Rotunno have the following exchange:
  • Turvey: "I wasn't aware of [the hair] until I went to Moscow and examined the bed frame. I didn't even know there was hair because of the way that the documents were all written. It wasn't until I went and examined it myself and said, 'what the heck is this?'... [T]his sort of floodgate opened."
  • Rotunno: "Yeah, because it said 'debris' or something."
  • Turvey: "Yeah, it didn't say."
• "Yeah, they said it was debris and they were hiding it that way. I'm like, this isn't debris. This is hair."

Source: https://pod.wave.co/podcast/crime-justice-with-donna-rotunno/bryan-kohberger-case-dna-chain-of-custody-questions (Transcript)

My conclusion: Turvey seems to be referring to the hair found in Ethan Chapin's hand and the alleged hair that Turvey himself observed on the bed frame as if they were interchangeable. Turvey was also responsible for mentioning this hair in his report if the hair existed and had relevance to the case. This conclusion is supported by the following points:

• At least some of the debris found in Ethan Chapin's hand was tested for hairs consistent with hair samples taken from Bryan Kohberger's head. The debris was labeled "FBI Item 3."
• Ruth Ballard tested one hair found in Chapin's hand. Ballard indicates the hair as belonging to FBI Item 3. She determined that the hair was "morphologically consistent with Decedent Chapin’s own reference hair."
• Turvey says that "the documents" do not specify hair as part of the debris, but Turvey states in the same interview that "the hair is in the report."
• Turvey states that a "floodgate opened" when he discovered several strands of hair adhered to the bed frame upon his examination in December 2024, but his crime scene reconstruction report produced in January 2025 never mentions hair found in Ethan Chapin's hand, the bed frame, or Turvey's later claim that Chapin might have pulled hair from the assailant's head.
• Given that Turvey's report detailed the wounds on Chapin's upper extremeties, the presence of any hair suggesting that Chapin pulled hair from the assailant's head would be relevant to Turvey's crime scene reconstruction.
• The bed frame was logged into evidence as Item 442, but no reports indicate any hair found on the bed frame or any testing performed on that alleged hair.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!

I meant to post this a few days ago.

TL;DR: Reddit will require anyone using Old Reddit to log in.

According to Reddit,

>Logging in to use Old Reddit

>Old Reddit’s logged-out experience is a significant source of abusive scraping and automated traffic on the platform. It’s also an important interface for many long-time mods and redditors. To strike the right balance between preserving your access to Old Reddit while preventing this type of platform abuse, we recently announced that by the end of July, we will start requiring everyone to log in. All logged-in users will continue to have access to Old Reddit, and this change will not impact logged-out browsing on reddit.com. 

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/1uvjqkj/mod_monthly_your_july_2026_newsletter_is_here/

We've had a few posts over the past week that pertain to either the sexual predation of minors or minors posting sexual imagery of themselves on Reddit. We removed those posts. (And by we, I mean me when I'm struggling to sleep, make the mistake of opening the Reddit app, and see these posts in my feed before mumbling curse words to myself.)

We understand that users can get frustrated with inaction from either subreddit moderators or Reddit's report processes when this content is not dealt with. Those users sometimes send the issue here hoping that more eyes on the content will lead to more reports and quicker content removal. We do not suspect ill motives of the users who post about these issues here.

That said, everyone should keep in mind the following:

• While these situations require urgency, posting about them here isn't always appropriate or helpful. An increase of reports to Reddit from multiple users does not always ensure quick content removal, particularly when the content is not obviously rule-breaking or displays no signals of automation.
• Linking to illegal content not only violates Reddit's policies, but it signal boosts the content and could further victimize the minor. Don't do this, and don't assume that everyone lurking in this subreddit has good intentions.
• Linking to illegal content could put your own account at risk, especially if someone reports your content and the report system is working correctly. Good intentions won't get your account back.

Here are the proper avenues to report this content:

1. Report the content through Reddit's report system. (And yes, it often works, including when users obfuscate key words and phrases in their content.) These reports are not only forwarded to the platform, but they are also sent to the mod team's queue for review. Reports also help build a paper trail that could be helpful later, even when they are not immediately actioned.
   • Report flow: Report → Minor abuse or sexualization → Sexual or suggestive content | Predatory or inappropriate behavior | Content involving physical or emotional abuse or neglect
2. Message the relevant subreddit's mod team with evidence of the activity, including links. When the inappropriate content is a post rather than a comment, then advise them to lock the post given that removed posts are still discoverable through Reddit's search feature and users can still comment under those posts.
   • Here is a Devvit app that automatically locks posts when they are removed by mods, admins, or users: https://developers.reddit.com/apps/removed-posts
   • I posted in r/ModSupport in December 2025 about mods failing to lock removed posts. Read this if you want to further understand the issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/1pzxo5e/psa_lock_your_subreddits_removed_posts/
3. File a Moderator Code of Conduct (MCoC) report. If you suspect that the relevant moderation team is either absent or approving the inappropriate content, then you can submit a Moderator Code of Conduct report form with links to the content. A user should first report pieces of content individually through the normal report process so that Reddit's Safety Team can more efficiently evaluate the situation. In my experience, a human response to MCoC reports often takes between 1 to 2 weeks, but they handle the reports seriously.
   • MCoC policies: https://redditinc.com/policies/moderator-code-of-conduct
   • Report form: https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=19300233728916

If you believe the inappropriate content is automated, then you can complete the above steps before reporting those accounts to the Bot Bouncer app through r/BotBouncer and messaging that subreddit's mod team. (Two of this subreddit's moderators are also moderators there, including the app's developer.) Keep in mind that Bot Bouncer only handles accounts suspected of automating content; the app is not meant for other rule-breaking activity independent of automation.

When in doubt, message this subreddit's mod team before posting about illegal or suspected illegal content. Links to that content will never be permitted, but there might be a way to thoughtfully and discreetly call attention to an issue that doesn't put anyone at risk.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Hi everyone,

At Reddit, we’re always looking for ways to keep the platform human, transparent, and respectful of your privacy. Today we’re sharing some clarifications to Rule 8 of the Reddit Rules: "Don't break the site." While the spirit of the rule hasn’t changed, we are adding specific details to address platform misuse and behavior that degrades the experience of Redditors.

What is changing?
We’ve updated the policy language to be more explicit about what it means to “interfere with normal use of Reddit”. We are also connecting Rule 8 to our User Agreement and Developer Terms, so the ground rules are clear for everyone – whether you’re a user, developer, or an entity interacting with our services.

Here are the key highlights:  

• We are using the term “app” to include everything from traditional programs to bots, AI agents, and non-human operated accounts.  
• As we’ve previously announced, to remain in good standing, apps must identify themselves and register. This supports our app labeling initiative so you know when you’re interacting with an automated account.
• We’re reflecting long-standing requirements from our Public Content Policy and Responsible Builder Policy directly into Rule 8, specifically: 
  • Respecting user deletions. This has always been the rule, and we’re reiterating it here: if a Redditor deletes their content, apps are prohibited from continuing to display or store local copies of that content.
  • No unauthorized scraping. Accessing or collecting Reddit data without explicit permission continues to be a violation of our terms.

     

• We are prohibiting the creation of accounts through automated or "agentic" means. While we’re okay with posting from a single automated account –if labelled as an App and otherwise within our rules–, using scripts or AI to spin up dozens or hundreds of accounts remains a violation of our site wide rules.

 

Why are we making this update?

These changes are part of our commitment to foster a trusted ecosystem for Redditors and ensure that Reddit remains a place for authentic human conversation.