Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman said in a post that Reddit will slowly move toward requiring accounts, and visitors without one will see less, BleepingComputer reported. For 20 years, almost everything was open to anyone. Huffman said the site has grown too large for that. A pilot in selected markets outside the United States will start in the coming months. Reddit gave two main reasons: personalization and scrapers, which are programs that copy pages in bulk. It also expects more upvote data and more relevant ads from logged-in users.
Reddit says most unauthorized data access happens through logged-out pages. That claim is Reddit's own. The content to be restricted, the first countries and the timeline are not set. Huffman said Reddit now thinks the front page should stay open, and search visitors should see at least the linked page. AI firms and search engines can keep licensing data through commercial deals. Reddit will not ask for real names or ID.
Teams that collect Reddit data or count on its traffic should note which route Reddit names as open: licensing. Reddit links unauthorized access to logged-out pages, and no scope for the pilot is set yet.