Reddit has announced it will discontinue support for RSS feeds starting November 13, 2026, citing concerns over large-scale scraping and automated abuse, often linked to AI bots. RSS feeds, a longstanding feature that allows users to track website updates in standardized formats, have been a cherished part of the open web. However, Reddit points to the misuse of RSS to extract data at scale without permission, prompting this measure to protect its content and platform integrity.

In addition to ending RSS feeds, Reddit is also planning to shut down its public API access by March 2027. This move will impact various third-party tools, including social listening platforms, research applications, and AI assistants that currently rely on Reddit’s openly accessible data. Going forward, entities wishing to use Reddit content for AI or commercial purposes will need to negotiate formal licensing deals, reflecting Reddit’s strategy to better control and monetize its valuable user-generated content.

Reddit’s revenue outside advertising has seen significant growth, with its Q2 2026 figures showing a 24% year-over-year increase to $43 million, highlighting the profitability of its data licensing efforts. This business rationale partially explains the platform’s tightened access controls. To support its community moderators who have depended on RSS for alerts and workflow management, Reddit recommends transitioning to the Discord Relay app and encourages early migration to avoid disruptions before the November deadline.

Further changes include restricted access to Old Reddit, limiting it to logged-in users who have actively used the site in the past six months, a policy updated from an initial 90-day timeframe, aimed at curbing scraping abuses. Reddit is also making updates to its moderation tools and requiring third-party developers to register their apps by January 12, 2027, to maintain API access. These combined measures represent a major shift in how Reddit manages access to its platform content amid rising concerns about automated data scraping and AI exploitation.