How do you delete your Reddit account, and what happens to your content if you do?

Deleting a Reddit account is a permanent and irreversible action that can be initiated from the account settings. On the desktop web interface, navigate to "Settings" from the user menu, scroll to the bottom of the account settings page, and find the option to "Delete Account." Reddit will ask you to confirm your username and password, present you with a brief survey about your reasons for leaving, and warn you that deletion is permanent. On mobile, the process is similarly located in the account settings under a "Delete Account" section. Once deletion is confirmed, Reddit processes the request and the account is removed. The account cannot be reactivated by Reddit administrators after deletion is confirmed — it is a one-way action. The username associated with a deleted account is permanently retired and cannot be claimed by a new user. Critically, deleting your account does not delete your posts and comments. Any content you published while the account was active remains visible on Reddit with your username replaced by "[deleted]." The posts and comments are orphaned from the account but continue to exist as part of the threads and communities where you posted them. This behavior surprises many users who assume account deletion cascades to content deletion. Reddit's official help center documentation states explicitly that if you want your posts and comments removed, you must delete them individually before deleting the account. Given the volume of content a long-term user may have created, tools like the browser extension Redact or similar bulk-deletion services can automate this process. Even after manual deletion of posts and comments, third-party archives may retain copies of content that was indexed before deletion.