Reddit was forced to tell moderators and developers that it was ending support for RSS feeds, which are increasingly used for automated information gathering and “automated abuse.” Reddit will no longer support this method of sharing information starting November 13th.
Image Credit: Unsplash, Brett Jordan
“We know RSS has long been a beloved part of the open web, and we’re grateful to everyone who uses it to keep Reddit connected.” – in his report statement Resource Management, while adding that public access via the API will be closed starting in March 2027. Recall that the RSS format allows users and applications to receive information from websites in a standardized form. It is actively used by news aggregators and information pipelines in various instant messaging tools. Google offered an RSS feed reader until 2013, but then stopped supporting it and ceded the market to smaller vendors.
It’s worth noting that for Reddit itself, the business of providing AI models with access to user-created content remains very profitable amid the boom of the corresponding system. As of the end of the second quarter, “other” revenue streams, which include all revenue other than advertising, brought the company $43 million, a 24% increase from the same period last year. Through the RSS channel, a large part of this content is only provided to AI developers for free, so it was decided to eliminate this “weak link” in the commercial monetization system.
For moderators of Reddit posts, the platform owner recommends migrating to the Discord Relay Devvit app in the near future and rebuilding their feeds without RSS after November 13. For all other application areas of this standard, no alternatives will be provided after this date. The comments have caused unease among Reddit moderators and users, who often rely on RSS as their primary source of information.
Starting next March, closing Reddit to the public through the API will also deprive AI assistant developers of the opportunity to collect information on this resource for free. Starting in March 2027, they will have to purchase a license from Reddit to use the data. In addition, Reddit will tighten access rules for information stored on so-called “Old Reddit” because data from this resource is also actively used by the creators of artificial intelligence systems without providing fair compensation to management. Bots generate traffic but prevent Reddit from selling more ads.
In the coming months, access to Old Reddit will be limited to users who have logged into the resource within the past six months, a period initially planned to be limited to 90 days. Developers of bots and applications that use Reddit data will need to officially register before January 12, 2027, to avoid losing access to them through the API after that date.
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