Reddit is preparing to further limit access to Old Reddit, the 21-year-old desktop version of its website, as it continues its fight against AI scraping.
In an update posted to r/modnews, the company said it will soon restrict logged-in access to users who have used Old Reddit within the last six months. Reddit said that group covers the vast majority of all Old Reddit users.
“In the next few months, we’ll further limit access for logged-in users to only those who have used Old Reddit in the last six months (which covers the vast majority of all Old Reddit users),” the company wrote.
Under the change, new accounts will no longer be able to access Old Reddit, and existing users who have not used it in six months will also be barred. Logged-in moderators will not be subject to the “recent usage” requirements, according to the company.
The move follows Reddit’s signal last month that significant changes were coming to Old Reddit. At that time, the company restricted Old Reddit to users who are logged in, but said more changes would be necessary in the future. In its latest update, Reddit said the recent change had already reduced automated abuse on the platform, even as it tightens access further.
Old Reddit remains popular among a vocal contingent of longtime users. However, the company has said the older version of the site has been a “significant source” of AI scraping.
Reddit hasn’t said whether Old Reddit will eventually be shut down for good. CEO Steve Huffman has described his “dream” as recreating the UI, “if not the guts, including the HTML+CSS itself, on a modern foundation so it can live on.”
The Old Reddit changes are the latest move in Reddit’s anti-scraping strategy. Earlier API restrictions effectively ended third-party clients, and the company is now deprecating the API altogether in favor of a gated developer platform with tighter access controls.
In addition, Reddit said it will stop supporting RSS feeds because they are “a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse.” That change will go into effect November 13.
“We know 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.
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