Reddit has begun implementing changes to its legacy website, Old Reddit, as part of a broader effort to modernize its platform. The company stated that these changes are necessary to protect its platform, business, and users from abusive scraping and spamming. In a blog post, Reddit mentioned that the legacy desktop web experience, which was built 21 years ago, will undergo modifications over time. The company emphasized that these efforts are intended to mitigate harmful behavior and provide time to plan for future steps. The changes include requiring users to be logged in to access Old Reddit, a policy that was introduced in late July. Reddit said that the logged-out experience on Old Reddit is a significant source of abusive scraping and automated traffic on the platform. The company also mentioned that these changes will help strengthen Reddit’s foundation and ensure the platform is ready to support thriving communities for future generations. Source: arstechnica
Reddit has not provided specific details about the nature of the changes or a hard timeline for their implementation. A company spokesperson, Rosa Kim, said that the company is exploring different options but has not finalized any plans. Kim added that the company will work directly with moderators, developers, and communities that depend on its systems and will keep everyone updated. This follows comments from a Reddit employee in June, who stated that “we can’t promise it will be around forever” while noting CEO Steve Huffman’s earlier promises to keep supporting the site while people still use it. Source: arstechnica
Reddit has also been restricting API access to its platform, building on previous controversial changes. The company has previously fought against unauthorized scraping by suing Perplexity, Anthropic, and others, and has restricted crawler access for search engines it doesn’t have a deal with. In 2023, Reddit started charging for access to its API, a move that led to the shuttering of most third-party Reddit apps. The company stated that the initial purpose of reducing API access was to stop generative AI companies from using Reddit to train large language models for free. Source: arstechnica
