Reddit stated that the FTC is investigating its actions of selling, licensing, or sharing user content with external organizations for training AI models.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Reddit revealed the FTC inquiry into its activities as mentioned in the FTC's letter dated Thursday.
Reddit mentioned in the filing that the FTC's interest in their use of new technologies and business arrangements is not unexpected, and they believe they have not conducted any unfair or deceptive trade practice.
Similar to other social media platforms, Reddit has shown interest in deals where AI companies pay to access user-generated text for training their AI models in conversational skills, question-answering, and content production.
About a month ago, Reddit made a $60 million agreement with Google for this purpose and, in return, will have access to Google's AI models for enhancing its internal search and other features. Reddit has declined to provide further comments on the deal.
Reddit's disclosure comes as the company prepares for its initial public offering, projecting a valuation of up to $6.4 billion.
