• Reddit is testing a departure from its open-internet roots.
• The platform will soon require users to log in to view its content to prevent content scraping.
• CEO Steve Huffman said Reddit can also better target ads to logged-in users.

Your lurking days on Reddit may be numbered.

Reddit plans to begin testing a primarily logged-in experience, a shift that could make it harder for casual visitors to browse the site without an account.

CEO and cofounder Steve Huffman said on Thursday's earnings call that Reddit will test the change in select markets outside the US in the fourth quarter. The company has not said when it will roll out a fully logged-in experience globally.

The tests will help Reddit determine how much content logged-out visitors can still access, including through shared links, search, and its front page.

This is a departure from the open platform it has been for over two decades, where internet users could view its content without logging in.

"It's a big one for us, and it's a big one for me," Huffman said to investors about the change. He gave a few reasons for the shift.

First, logged-in users mean Reddit can target ads more effectively, as they provide the platform with more information to make ad decisions. COO Jen Wong added that more than 80% of Reddit's monetization "sits on the shoulders of logged-in and app users," calling them the company's "bedrock."

Second, the move aims to protect Reddit content from third-party scraping.

"The vast majority of the scraping and stealing of Reddit happens in our logged-out user base," Huffman said. He did not specify who the third parties involved in content scraping were, AI agents or otherwise.

Reddit addressed similar concerns in 2024, updating its "Robots Exclusion Policy" to put guardrails in place against unknown bots crawling its site. It also sued Anthropic, Perplexity, and several other data-mining companies last year, accusing them of scraping Reddit comments for AI training.

Reddit reported a 53% increase in third-quarter revenue, from $584 million in 2025 to $895 million in 2026. Its global daily active unique users in the quarter rose 12% to 130.3 million, even as US users declined 2%.

Huffman said Reddit's search-referral traffic was down in the third quarter. In October, search traffic fell by more than 1 million referrals per week on average, he said. If that rate continues, he said Reddit could lose a significant percentage of its current 130 million daily active unique users in the fourth quarter.

The company's stock dropped more than 17% in after-hours trading on Thursday.

Watchdog says under-16 ban may affect older teenagers without passport or licence, and that ‘motivated children’ will skirt restrictions

More than 100,000 British teenagers risk being locked out of social media if they do not have a passport or driving licence when an under-16 ban is introduced next year.

Ofcom, the UK’s online watchdog, said about 150,000 16- to 17-year-olds do not own a passport or driving licence, which are likely to be needed to access age-restricted platforms.

r/BoyDinnerDiaries is a subreddit where men post photos of their often rather sad-looking meals alongside their most private worries. Zack Hauptman carefully explores this unusual place for community and care, meeting the men who are learning to share more than just what is on their plate. We hear a lot about the “male loneliness epidemic,” so it’s heartening to glimpse even a small shift in the other direction.

Others use the forum regardless of whether they have a vast social circle. Robert*, 31, says he has many people to turn to but uses Reddit when he needs to unload his feelings further. “I have an urge to vent when I don’t want to call a friend,” he says. In August, after experiencing repeated rejection from women he was seeing, he decided to post about it online. “I’m at the point where I feel so disappointed and let down but also so grateful that I have the opportunity to learn and grow from all of it,” he wrote alongside a photo of mushy canned tuna in a bowl. “I could talk about it pretty much all the time, but I don’t really want to be doing that,” he says. “Going to the subreddit…it’s like throwing it into the void.”

Brussels is tightening its grip on some of the internet’s fastest-growing services, designating ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox for heightened scrutiny under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), writes Catherine Feore.

The European Commission said all three services meet the 45 million average monthly users threshold in the EU, triggering the DSA rules reserved for digital players considered large enough to pose systemic risks to European society.

“These new designations mean that ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox will now be held to a higher standard of scrutiny and accountability in the European Union,” said Henna Virkkunen (pictured), the Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy.

The move puts the companies firmly in Brussels’ regulatory crosshairs. They must assess and mitigate risks ranging from illegal content and harm to minors to threats to fundamental rights, elections, public security, and users’ physical and mental well-being. Importantly, the designation also gives the Commission investigative powers to scrutinise relevant features and systems underpinning the services.

ChatGPT has been designated a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE), while Reddit and Roblox are now Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs). They have until the end of January 2027 to comply with the DSA’s tougher obligations.

ChatGPT’s inclusion is particularly significant. The Commission considers the AI service a hybrid product that qualifies as an online search engine because it can search the web when answering users’ queries, bringing a major generative AI service into the DSA’s toughest tier of oversight for the first time.

The Commission will supervise compliance with the DSA, in cooperation with Coimisiún na Meán (Ireland’s media regulator) for ChatGPT and Reddit, and the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) for Roblox.

With the latest additions, 28 platforms and search engines have now received the EU’s “very large” designation.

Photo credit: Commissioner Virkkunnen Photographer: Lukasz Kobus © European Union