Reddit says it has to cut back access to ‘Old Reddit’ because of AI bots
News Source
•2026-09-30T13:45:00-04:00
📰 What Happened
Reddit is limiting who can use its classic Old Reddit design. In the next few months, users must be logged in and must have used Old Reddit within the last six months. Reddit says the change is meant to stop bots and scraping. The company will also stop supporting RSS feeds on November 13. Moderators keep full access to the old design.
🔍 The Backstory
Reddit has been fighting unsanctioned use of its data for years. It has blocked the Internet Archive, sued Anthropic, and signed data deals with Google and OpenAI. CEO Steve Huffman once promised to keep Old Reddit online as long as people used it. In August he said spammers and scrapers had forced the company to act.
🎯 Why It Matters
Many long-time Reddit fans love the old design and may lose access. The move shows how AI data scraping is changing the websites people use.
Reddit is limiting who can use its classic Old Reddit design. In the next few months, users must be logged in and must have used Old Reddit within the last six months. Reddit says the change is meant to stop bots and scraping. The company will also stop supporting RSS feeds on November 13. Moderators keep full access to the old design.
Reddit has been fighting unsanctioned use of its data for years. It has blocked the Internet Archive, sued Anthropic, and signed data deals with Google and OpenAI. CEO Steve Huffman once promised to keep Old Reddit online as long as people used it. In August he said spammers and scrapers had forced the company to act.
Many long-time Reddit fans love the old design and may lose access. The move shows how AI data scraping is changing the websites people use.