Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots

Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots(techcrunch.com)

10 points by speckx 2 hours ago | 11 comments

beardyw 1 hour ago |

Is no one looking at the problem? It is not caused by Reddit, it is not caused by RSS, it's caused by misuse of something many of us value by/for AI. AI is not just biting the hand that feeds it, it's killing it.

Cyan488 1 hour ago |

The Reddit team talks about RSS like it got hit by a truck or something.

> Sorry about this - we're sad too, RSS feeds have had a great long life on the open web.

> We know RSS feeds have been a beloved open web tool.

Correction: RSS HAS a great life on the open web, RSS IS a beloved open web tool.

OrderlyTiamat 1 hour ago | |

Yes, this kills my usage of reddit, not my usage of RSS.

ChrisArchitect 2 hours ago |

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/1wubgvt/continuing...

OutOfHere 2 hours ago |

Friends shouldn't let friends use Reddit, but what is the comparable primary substitute?

TFNA 43 minutes ago | |

In the 2020s any comparable social site, even if libre, is generally people posting from smartphones, a medium that on a societal level discourages longform text and nuanced discussion. That means they will share many of Reddit's pathologies.

I'd say the best Reddit replacement now is the same replacement for most of the modern internet: Anna's Archive. Reading edifying classic literature and university-press publications is going to be superior to almost anything on the web now.

blakeashleyjr 2 hours ago | |

Lemmy + HN

lapcat 2 hours ago |

I follow Reddit exclusively via RSS. I moderate a product support subreddit and contribute my technical expertise to various Apple-related subreddits. But no more. Reddit is now dead to me.

This is like Twitter all over again: they attract technical users with openness, supporting RSS and a 3rd party API. Then after they get enough users addicted and locked in, they close the service, killing the open web.

The future of Reddit is clearly continuing enshittification, just like Twitter/X. AI scraping was merely a current convenient excuse. They hate RSS feeds because the user controls what they see, not the force-fed algorithm.

Ironically, Reddit had already been rate-limiting their RSS feeds: https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2026/6/3.html

TFNA 48 minutes ago | |

As a deeply involved Redditor (even a sub mod) you should already be aware that things like RSS and Old Reddit are used by a minuscule amount of people. The world moved on, and the vast majority of users are on the app or on the New Reddit website, generally on smartphones -- and that is precisely why the culture of the site has long since degenerated into what it is now.

So, Reddit killing old features isn't about trying to chain freethinking people to the algorithm, since there just aren't enough such people left to be significant. You can take the site's statement at face value; this really is about stopping unpaid scraping by bots.

toomuchtodo 1 hour ago | |

Path forward is to build as close of a replacement as possible on https://atproto.com/ otherwise the enshittfication dance always continues. Doesn't have to be perfect, it just as to be able to avoid corporate capture, like water running through clasped hands.

https://atprotoalternatives.com/

Historical Reddit data remains available via torrent: https://github.com/ArthurHeitmann/arctic_shift/blob/master/d...

lapcat 1 hour ago | | |

I think Lemmy is an existing alternative: https://join-lemmy.org

Based on ActivityPub.

feverzsj 1 hour ago |

Yes, more enshittfication.