Reddit moves to logged-in-only access, citing AI-driven search losses

Reddit will transition to a "logged-in only experience," with testing starting outside the US before a global rollout, a change driven by AI's impact on search traffic. CEO Steve Huffman said the site lost one million search referrals weekly in October as AI summaries replace traditional links. Over 80% of revenue comes from logged-in users, so Reddit will focus on direct habit-building features like algorithmic feeds and AI moderation. The move also aims to protect Reddit's data corpus for AI training deals with OpenAI and Google. Despite 53% revenue growth, the stock fell on a lower-than-expected forecast.