Search traffic is falling, RSS is disappearing, and Reddit is closing another door to the open web.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n![\"Reddit](\"https:\/\/media.reclaimthenet.org\/images\/2026\/10\/4avTF0hATVls.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBy Cindy Harper<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reddit is planning to end the ability to read the site without creating an account, a move the company said in its third-quarter shareholder letter<\/u><\/a> is the direction it is taking.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe change, described as a shift to \u201ca logged-in-only experience\u201d is being tested this quarter in \u201cselect markets outside the US.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For two decades, people have been able to read content on the site without an account. But now this is ending, as the company looks to force those who want to read threads on the platform to log in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason, as the letter makes clear, is that having an account provides \u201cmore signals for ads targeting, and being logged-in leads to higher engagement generally.\u201d In fact, Reddit says that its \u201cmost engaged and monetizable users\u201d are those who are logged in and use the app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is because every page they read leaves a trace on their account, providing a complete picture of their interests, while those who read without an account leave no data behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter also mentions that the move is a way to help the company adapt to emerging regulations around the world, such as age verification, which already requires some users to hand over their government ID or perform a live face scan to a third party, Persona<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCEO Steve Huffman said that the company does not want to know who its users are \u2013 it just wants them to have an account. \u201cHonestly, we don\u2019t want to know,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those who do not log in will still be able to access the site\u2019s homepage, as well as individual threads they reach via a search engine or a shared link. However, they will not be able to comment or vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reddit will allow users to install its app and use an incognito mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huffman is aware that the change is \u201ca big change for Reddit<\/u><\/a>, where we\u2019ve allowed logged-out access to basically all of Reddit for the last two decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nHowever, the company is determined to move forward with the plan, which it says is necessary to \u201cprotect access to Reddit\u2019s extremely valuable corpus of data.\u201d Huffman explained that \u201cthe vast majority\u201d of unauthorized access to the site comes \u201cthrough our logged-out experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company is saying that those who scrape its data do so by accessing it as logged-out users, and that this can be stopped by making everybody log in. But this is a weak argument, since those who scrape data can just as easily create accounts and continue doing what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What the move will do, however, is lock out the average internet user who wants to read a thread without being tracked and profiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reddit is also motivated by the fact that it is losing traffic from search engines, and expects this to negatively affect its daily usage numbers this quarter. The letter reveals that in October, the site lost more than a million referrals from search on average per week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company said, \u201cPretty much all of the major ad-based platforms have gone through this transition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not the first time Reddit is making moves that seem to go against its own users\u2019 interests in order to protect its own. Previously, we reported about the site requiring a login for its Old Reddit<\/u><\/a>, which it said was a \u201csignificant source of abusive scraping and automated traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nAt the same time, Reddit ended support for RSS feeds<\/u><\/a>, and in two weeks, on November 13, it will cut off this functionality, citing \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 scraping and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThen there was the experiment with blocking the mobile site<\/u><\/a> with a pop-up that asked users to \u201cget the app to keep using Reddit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBy Cindy Harper<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reddit is planning to end the ability to read the site without creating an account, a move the company said in its third-quarter shareholder letter<\/u><\/a> is the direction it is taking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The change, described as a shift to \u201ca logged-in-only experience\u201d is being tested this quarter in \u201cselect markets outside the US.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For two decades, people have been able to read content on the site without an account. But now this is ending, as the company looks to force those who want to read threads on the platform to log in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason, as the letter makes clear, is that having an account provides \u201cmore signals for ads targeting, and being logged-in leads to higher engagement generally.\u201d In fact, Reddit says that its \u201cmost engaged and monetizable users\u201d are those who are logged in and use the app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is because every page they read leaves a trace on their account, providing a complete picture of their interests, while those who read without an account leave no data behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The letter also mentions that the move is a way to help the company adapt to emerging regulations around the world, such as age verification, which already requires some users to hand over their government ID or perform a live face scan to a third party, Persona<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CEO Steve Huffman said that the company does not want to know who its users are \u2013 it just wants them to have an account. \u201cHonestly, we don\u2019t want to know,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who do not log in will still be able to access the site\u2019s homepage, as well as individual threads they reach via a search engine or a shared link. However, they will not be able to comment or vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reddit will allow users to install its app and use an incognito mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Huffman is aware that the change is \u201ca big change for Reddit<\/u><\/a>, where we\u2019ve allowed logged-out access to basically all of Reddit for the last two decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the company is determined to move forward with the plan, which it says is necessary to \u201cprotect access to Reddit\u2019s extremely valuable corpus of data.\u201d Huffman explained that \u201cthe vast majority\u201d of unauthorized access to the site comes \u201cthrough our logged-out experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company is saying that those who scrape its data do so by accessing it as logged-out users, and that this can be stopped by making everybody log in. But this is a weak argument, since those who scrape data can just as easily create accounts and continue doing what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What the move will do, however, is lock out the average internet user who wants to read a thread without being tracked and profiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reddit is also motivated by the fact that it is losing traffic from search engines, and expects this to negatively affect its daily usage numbers this quarter. The letter reveals that in October, the site lost more than a million referrals from search on average per week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company said, \u201cPretty much all of the major ad-based platforms have gone through this transition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not the first time Reddit is making moves that seem to go against its own users\u2019 interests in order to protect its own. Previously, we reported about the site requiring a login for its Old Reddit<\/u><\/a>, which it said was a \u201csignificant source of abusive scraping and automated traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, Reddit ended support for RSS feeds<\/u><\/a>, and in two weeks, on November 13, it will cut off this functionality, citing \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 scraping and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there was the experiment with blocking the mobile site<\/u><\/a> with a pop-up that asked users to \u201cget the app to keep using Reddit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n