{"slug": "chatgpt-mysteriously-stops-citing-reddit-in-many-responses-to-users", "title": "ChatGPT mysteriously stops citing Reddit in many responses to users", "summary": "Reddit citations in ChatGPT Search fell more than 86 percent between Aug. 14 and 17, dropping from an average share of 3.83 percent to 0.52 percent, according to a report from AI analytics company PromptWatch. The sudden decline is unique to ChatGPT, as Google AI Overviews and AI Mode saw only slight decreases, and the cause remains unclear, though similar drops have occurred before due to external search parameter changes.", "body_md": "# ChatGPT mysteriously stops citing Reddit in many responses to users\n\nReddit, once a favorite source of information for AI chatbots, is now barely being cited by ChatGPT, according to a new report from an AI search and analytics company.\n\nPublished this week by PromptWatch, the report found that [Reddit citations in ChatGPT Search fell more than 86 percent](https://promptwatch.com/data/reddit-citations-are-dropping-in-chatgpt) over a recent four-day period.\n\nPromptWatch data shows that Reddit held an average share of 3.83 percent of ChatGPT citations. This made Reddit one of ChatGPT's most cited domains from across the web. However, within one day, that quickly changed. PromptWatch noticed that starting on Aug. 14, Reddit's citation share plunged to less than 1 percent.\n\n**You May Also Like**\n\nBetween Aug. 14 and 17, Reddit's ChatGPT citation share fell even lower, to an average of 0.52 percent, or an 86.4 percent decline.\n\nThis is a stunning and sudden drop in ChatGPT citations for Reddit. So, what happened?\n\n[Terms of Use](https://www.ziffdavis.com/terms-of-use)and\n\n[Privacy Policy](https://www.ziffdavis.com/ztg-privacy-policy).\n\nAs of now, exactly why Reddit fell out of favor with ChatGPT is unclear.\n\nThe drastic decline in Reddit citations is unique to ChatGPT, according to PrompWatch's report, although there were slight decreases in Reddit citations in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode during the same timeframe.\n\n[ Search Engine Journal](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-reddits-chatgpt-citation-drop-isnt-fully-explained/586479/) reports that ChatGPT changed its search process on Aug. 8, but that this wouldn't explain the massive drop days later on Aug. 14. As the outlet explains, a similar drop has occurred before, and neither ChatGPT creator OpenAI nor Reddit was responsible. In September of last year, Reddit citations on ChatGPT also declined. It turned out that that citation plunge was due to a search parameter change that Google had made, and which many tools, including ChatGPT, relied on.\n\nReddit has long had a [ complicated relationship](https://mashable.com/tech/old-reddit-chopping-block-ai-scraping) with AI and scraping bots. Generation engine optimization, or GEO, is a new branch of search engine optimization (SEO) that optimizes websites specifically for AI. As a result of AI's rising popularity, Reddit has dealt with a\n\n[and other promotional GEO tactics from users and agencies looking to get their websites and clients mentioned by AI chatbots.](https://mashable.com/tech/ai-fueling-reddit-spam-problem)\n\n__significant uptick in spam__With that said, Reddit has also benefited from the AI boom as well. The company signed a [ lucrative deal](http://mashable.com/article/reddit-openai-deal-what-it-means) with OpenAI a few years ago, which allowed the AI company to train its LLMs using Reddit user content. When news broke last month that Reddit may not renew a similar AI licensing deal with Google, Reddit stock\n\n[.](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/22/reddit-stock-google-ai-content-deal.html)\n\n__took a dive__While it's possible that either Reddit or OpenAI made a purposeful decision that resulted in the citation decline, don't be surprised if ChatGPT soon reverts to regularly sourcing Reddit again either.\n\n*Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters*\n\n*today.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chatgpt-mysteriously-stops-citing-reddit-in-many-responses-to-users", "canonical_source": "https://mashable.com/tech/reddit-citations-by-chatgpt-plunge", "published_at": "2026-08-20 16:10:51+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-20 16:44:22.875921+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["ChatGPT", "Reddit", "PromptWatch", "OpenAI", "Google"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chatgpt-mysteriously-stops-citing-reddit-in-many-responses-to-users", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chatgpt-mysteriously-stops-citing-reddit-in-many-responses-to-users.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chatgpt-mysteriously-stops-citing-reddit-in-many-responses-to-users.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chatgpt-mysteriously-stops-citing-reddit-in-many-responses-to-users.jsonld"}}