Reddit will gradually become a "logged-in service," co-founder Steve Huffman announced, offering only limited access to visitors without accounts — the first time in 20 years the platform has restricted anonymous browsing at scale. A pilot begins in selected markets outside the United States in the coming months; what content is restricted, which countries are first, and the rollout timeline are undecided. Reddit says it will keep the front page accessible to all and let users arriving from search results or external links see at least the page the URL points to, and it will continue to license data to AI platforms and search engines under commercial agreements. Huffman cited personalisation and content scraping as the drivers, saying most unauthorised data access happens through logged-out pages. Reddit says it will not require real names or identity documents, will re-release a read-only incognito mode, and will let users opt out of personalised advertising. The change escalates the platform's long-running fight over scraping of its data for AI training.

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