Reddit is preparing to transition toward a primarily logged-in platform, effectively concluding a 20-year tradition that permitted visitors to read the majority of posts without creating an account. Chief Executive Steve Huffman revealed the strategy on Thursday during the company’s third-quarter earnings call.
Initial tests requiring mandatory sign-ins will roll out in select international markets outside the United States during the fourth quarter. Reddit plans to evaluate user engagement, retention, and advertising growth before determining whether to implement the requirement globally.
Google AI Hits Traffic
Huffman attributed a sharp drop in search referrals to Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, noting that Reddit’s search referrals decreased by an average of more than one million per week in October.
Addressing investors, Huffman stated, “AI Mode does not drive traffic, not for us and not to anybody. Google remains an important crawler of Reddit, but its AI answers increasingly keep users on the search page instead of sending them to the platform.”
According to the company, the decrease was most pronounced among logged-out visitors and those browsing Reddit via the web. Management cautioned that if current search trends persist, daily active users could decline by a low double-digit percentage in the fourth quarter.
Ads and Users at Stake
Logged-in users matter significantly to Reddit’s financial model, generating over 80 percent of the company’s revenue while supplying better data for targeted advertising and personalized content. Meanwhile, the platform will maintain data-licensing agreements with approved partners such as OpenAI and Google. This adjustment aims to differentiate authorized commercial access from unauthorized large-scale data scraping.
In Huffman’s words, “A login-first platform would improve content discovery, raise engagement and support safer, more regulated user experiences. Reddit must persuade casual search visitors to create accounts rather than lose them at the door.”
This initiative represents one of the most substantial strategic changes in the 21-year history of Reddit. Having expanded by providing open-web access to its communities, the platform now aims to draw direct visitors who sign in and remain.
Also Read: Reddit Launches ‘For You’ Feed: A New Way to Discover Posts
