Reddit is introducing tougher rules to tackle nude photo posts, five months after naked pictures belonging to a slew of Hollywood celebrities were leaked onto the site by hackers.

The social forum will remove any intimate images of people posted on its subreddits when notified that the snaps were posted without permission, it announced in an update to its privacy policy.

The company wrote yesterday: "No matter who you are, if a photograph, video, or digital image of you in a state of nudity, sexual excitement, or engaged in any act of sexual conduct, is posted or linked to on reddit without your permission, it is prohibited on reddit.

"We also recognise that violent personalised images are a form of harassment that we do not tolerate and we will remove them when notified."

The move follows a huge leak of personal nude photos of celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence and Kirsten Dunst in a breach known as the Fappening'.

The photos, pulled from Apple's iCloud by hackers, were posted on Reddit and the 4Chan message boards last September.

Following increasing media pressure, Reddit eventually took the photos off its site, yet similar photos of non-celebs remained.

The social forum yesterday admitted it had "missed a chance" to protect people's privacy, adding the updated privacy policy is a step in the right direction.