{"slug": "reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-and-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots", "title": "Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots", "summary": "Reddit announced Wednesday it will shut down RSS feeds on November 13 and end public API access by March 2027, citing RSS as a \"common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse.\" The company said its \"other revenue\" beyond advertising grew 24% year-over-year to $43 million in its second quarter, and it is directing moderators who relied on RSS alerts to the Discord Relay Devvit app. Reddit also said it will limit Old Reddit access to logged-in moderators and users active in the last 90 days, and reminded third-party app and bot developers to register with the company before January 12, 2027.", "body_md": "Amid a number of updates for moderators and developers announced Wednesday comes bad news for supporters of a more open web: Reddit is ending support for RSS feeds.\n\nReddit says RSS has now become a “common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse,” which is why it’s made the decision to wind down RSS feeds on its platform.\n\n“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 noted in its announcement, where it also shared a March 2027 shutdown date for its public API.\n\nReddit said RSS support will cease on November 13.\n\nRSS, or Really Simple Syndication/Rich Site Summary, is a web feed that lets users and applications access updates to a website in a standardized format. The format became particularly popular in the blogging era, as it offered a way to subscribe to a site’s new posts in a news-reading app. Google once operated the most popular of these, but [shut it down in 2013](https://techcrunch.com/2013/03/13/rip-google-reader/), ceding the market to companies like Feedly and other indie applications. \n\nThe decision to kill Reddit’s RSS feeds comes at a time when the site’s treasure trove of user-generated content in its forums has become a profitable side business for the company in the form of AI licensing deals.\n\nDuring its [second quarter](https://investor.redditinc.com/news-events/news-releases/news-details/2026/Reddit-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx), Reddit said its “other revenue” beyond advertising had grown 24% year-over-year to $43 million. It’s no wonder that Reddit doesn’t want to give any of that data away for free.\n\nFor moderators who have relied on RSS channels for their own alerts, Reddit is now recommending a shift to the [Discord Relay](https://developers.reddit.com/apps/discord-relay) Devvit app. The company suggested that moderators and their teams review their setups and migrate their workflows before the shutdown date of November 13 to ensure there’s no disruption. However, Reddit said that there’s no replacement for the use of RSS feeds that were being used for feeds outside of the moderators’ community.\n\nModerators have already expressed worry about how this shift would impact their workflow. When Reddit [hinted earlier](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/1tq9vxo/protecting_communities_from_scrapers_and_platform/) that it was preparing for the end of RSS on its site, many [responded](https://www.reddit.com/r/rss/comments/1tqpf5r/reddit_officially_admits_to_prepping_the_end_of/) by complaining that Reddit would become unmanageable for them. Meanwhile, many users stressed that RSS was how they enjoyed accessing Reddit’s content.\n\nThe RSS change was one of several updates issued on Wednesday by the company. Another big change will be the end of its public API.\n\nPublic API access will also end by March 2027, which will impact any tools that used it for programmatic access to Reddit conversations, including social listening products, those used by researchers, and AI products, such as AI assistants. Today, those assistants can use Reddit to answer questions, but after closing public API access, they will need to forgo commercial deals with Reddit for its data.\n\nIn addition, Reddit provided an update on its Rules Hub progress and auto-mod changes, and said it was “adding safeguards” to its classic, text-heavy version of its site known as Old Reddit. The latter will include limiting access to logged-in moderators and recent users — changes Reddit also said were required because of “abusive scraping and automated traffic.”\n\nReddit said in the next few months it will limit access for logged-in users to those who have used Old Reddit in the last 90 days.\n\nThe company also reminded developers building approved third-party apps and bots to [register them with the company before January 12, 2027,](https://developers.reddit.com/app-registration) to avoid disruption. After that date, Reddit will remove API access for any developer that hasn’t registered.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-and-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/30/reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots/", "published_at": "2026-09-30 17:45:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-30 18:19:17.839759+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-crawlers", "ai-policy", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Reddit", "Discord Relay", "Devvit", "Feedly", "Google Reader", "Old Reddit"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-and-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-and-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-and-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-and-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots.jsonld"}}