Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
> 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.
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
https://atprotoalternatives.com/
Historical Reddit data remains available via torrent: https://github.com/ArthurHeitmann/arctic_shift/blob/master/d...
Based on ActivityPub.
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.
Right, and the reason for that is because of the previous actions they'd taken - killing third party apps, refusing to do more than the bare minimum to support moderators, etc.
At some point, they realized they wanted people to be on the New Version & the App. And hell, it was probably the correct business decision - they're not running it out of the goodness of their own hearts on free hardware. But it definitely means that Reddit is just not a place I use anymore.
The free internet has lost the fight. Liberty is just business now.
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.
The difference is that Reddit is even worse. It’s like a distillation of all the most angry indignant rage inducing crap from the other sites all into one.
I moderate my own subreddit, and it's definitely not "angry indignant rage inducing crap". That's the other thing: Reddit is moderated in a way that most other giant platforms are not. Of course the standards of moderation also vary widely among subreddits.
But all the big subs and even the moderately sized subs and even the smaller subs have become crap. I’ve (sadly for me) wasted much time on Reddit over the years. The type of comments I mentioned have become the default on every subreddit that isnt tiny and niche. It’s impossible to have a genuine thoughtful discussion on any non-niche hobby or subject without it being flooded by the kind of negative comments I mentioned in my previous comment.
Threadiverse. Try out Lemmy, Piefed or Mbin.
- https://join-lemmy.org - https://join.piefed.social - https://joinmbin.org
Quick start instance: https://lemmy.zip
For more information about the Fediverse and Threadiverse + Lemmy: https://fedecan.ca/en/guide/get-started
Reddit has gobbled up all kind of smaller specialized forums over the last decade, and established itself as the primary point of interest if you want something outside the walled social gardens. All attempts to rival them seem to have lost, and now we are at the endgame, and nobody seems to be there any more, who could take on the fight for the niche-problems of us powerusers.