Reddit to shut down RSS feeds and public API over AI scraping

Reddit ↘ 1.12% announced Wednesday that it will shut down RSS feed support on November 13 and phase out its public API by March 2027, citing widespread scraping and automated abuse by AI bots. The moves mark the platform's most aggressive steps yet to lock down its user-generated content, which has become an increasingly lucrative asset through AI licensing deals.

"RSS has been a beloved part of the open web for a long time, and we're grateful to everyone who used it to stay connected to Reddit," the company wrote in a post to moderators on r/modnews. But Reddit said the format is now "a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse," leaving the company little choice but to retire it.techcrunch+1

A Phased Shutdown

The RSS shutdown on November 13 is paired with a staggered closure of the public Data API. Reddit will stop accepting new API access requests after October 31. Starting January 12, 2027, the company will begin revoking access for unregistered apps, with all remaining public API access ending in March 2027.unite+1

More than 14,000 apps and bots have already registered to migrate to Reddit's Developer Platform, and the company is offering $1,000 per eligible app from a $1 million migration fund to ease the transition. For moderators who relied on RSS alerts, Reddit is recommending the Discord Relay Devvit app as a replacement. For everyone else, the company was blunt: "If you use RSS for feeds outside of a community you moderate, there is no replacement".thenextweb+2

Old Reddit Gets Locked Down

Reddit is also tightening access to Old Reddit, the classic text-heavy desktop interface that has long been favored by power users — and, increasingly, by bots. The company already began requiring logins earlier this year, but said Wednesday that in the coming months it will further restrict access to accounts that have used Old Reddit within the past six months. Logged-in moderators are exempt.engadget+1

CEO Steve Huffman said in August that the platform had reached a point where changes were necessary because Old Reddit was being used by "everyone who spams, scrapes, or does anything bad on Reddit".theverge

Moderators Push Back

The changes drew criticism from moderators in the announcement's comments. Some warned that losing Automoderator capabilities — which Reddit is now disabling for new communities and those that have never used the tool — would lead to more bans and harder-to-manage forums.thenextweb+1

The restrictions come as Reddit's "other revenue" beyond advertising, driven largely by AI data licensing deals, grew 24 percent year-over-year to $43 million in the second quarter, according to TechCrunch. Reddit has struck data agreements with Google Alphabet Inc. ↗ 1.62% and OpenAI, while simultaneously suing Anthropic over alleged unauthorized bot access. The message is clear: access to Reddit's data now comes with a price tag.techcrunch+1