LOS ANGELES - An unnamed California woman has filed a class action lawsuit against Reddit, Inc., related to allegations the service has knowingly benefitted from posts to their service of videos and pictures of underaged individuals.
The suit was filed by attorney Krysta Kauble Pachman on behalf of a plaintiff only named as “Jane Doe” in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, according to court documents.
The suit alleges that Reddit has taken “virtually no action” to address the posting of child pornography to its service, despite being aware of the practice for a significant period of time. The service only instituted a policy against child pornography in 2011 following controversy over portions of the site that featured minors engaged in sexual acts, the suit alleges.
Reddit is referred in the suit to as a “safe haven” for content that depicts underage individuals engaged in sexual acts. While areas of the site known as “subreddits” are banned based on violations of policy, the suit alleges that these actions only take place once a significant amount of content has been posted, and Reddit makes no effort to prevent child pornography from being posted in the first place.
The plaintiff is seeking injunctive relief to put Reddit’s policies in compliance with federal law and compensatory and punitive damages for the class of plaintiffs named in the suit, as well as fees, costs and expenses.