Reddit to test login-walled reading after AI search cut referrals by 1M+ weekly visits
aakashgupta · x · 2026-11-01
Reddit told investors on Oct 29 that Google's AI answers built from its posts are eroding its traffic: search referrals fell by more than 1 million visits per week on average in October. The site will begin testing a login-required version in select markets outside the US this quarter, with CEO Steve Huffman stating "this is a test, but we are going to make this transition." The stock dropped 29% the next day — Reddit's worst day as a public company — signaling the collapse of the 25-year implicit deal where free crawling was exchanged for referral traffic.
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