“Reddit is terminating RSS feed support as part of a broader effort to restrict access to its vast library of user-generated content. The move follows the company's controversial decision in 2023 to charge for API access, which drove away third-party developers and sparked widespread user protests. Together, these changes signal Reddit's intent to monetise its data pipeline — particularly as AI companies seek large text datasets for training language models.”
Key Takeaways
- Reddit is ending RSS feed support, cutting off a longstanding free method of accessing its content.
- The decision is explicitly linked to preventing AI bots from scraping user-generated content at scale.
- This follows Reddit's 2023 move to end free public API access, which already restricted third-party app developers.
Reddit is shutting down RSS feeds as it locks down data access from AI bots.
trending_upWhy It Matters
Reddit's data has long been a goldmine for AI training, featuring decades of human conversation across millions of topics. By killing both API access and RSS feeds, Reddit is aggressively consolidating control over who can use that data — and at what price. This could push AI developers toward licensing deals directly with Reddit, or force them to seek alternative data sources, potentially reshaping how large language models are trained. Independent researchers, journalists, and open-source developers who relied on free RSS access will also lose a key tool, raising concerns about the creeping privatisation of public internet discourse.
FAQ
Why is Reddit ending RSS feeds specifically?
Reddit says AI bots are using RSS feeds to scrape user-generated content at scale without paying for access. Removing RSS is part of a wider strategy to ensure commercial data users — especially AI companies — pay for the privilege.
How does this affect AI companies that train on Reddit data?
AI companies that previously used free RSS or API access to harvest Reddit posts for training data will now need to negotiate paid licensing agreements. Reddit signed a reported $60 million annual data deal with Google in early 2024, suggesting it sees this as a major revenue stream.
Will regular Reddit users notice any difference?
Most casual users who browse Reddit directly through the website or app will see no change. However, power users who relied on RSS readers to follow subreddits without visiting Reddit directly will lose that functionality entirely.
