Reddit is placing new restrictions on who can use its Old Reddit interface as the company expands its efforts to prevent automated scraping and unauthorized collection of its data. Under the upcoming rules, logged-in users will need to have used Old Reddit within the previous six months to continue accessing the classic version of the website. Moderators will be exempt from the six-month requirement.
The change means newly created accounts will generally not be able to begin using Old Reddit. Existing users who have not visited the older interface within six months could also lose access. Reddit says the restriction will still allow the vast majority of current Old Reddit users to continue using the service while making it harder for newly created or inactive accounts to be used for automated scraping.
Old Reddit is the original-style desktop interface available through old.reddit.com. Many longtime users prefer its simpler layout, compact design and extensive customization options. It is also widely used by moderators and people who rely on older browser extensions and workflows that were built around Reddit’s original interface.
Reddit first tightened access to Old Reddit earlier this year by requiring users to log in. The company said the logged-out version of Old Reddit had become a significant source of automated traffic and abusive scraping. Reddit said requiring authentication gives the company more information about individual requests and makes it easier to identify accounts that violate its rules.
The company now says the login requirement has already reduced scraping and automated abuse. However, any logged-in account can currently reach Old Reddit, including a newly created account that has never used the older interface before. Reddit says the six-month usage requirement is intended to close that gap.
Moderators will receive special treatment under the new policy. A logged-in moderator will continue to be able to use Old Reddit even if that person has not visited the interface during the previous six months. Reddit has said Old Reddit remains important to some moderation workflows and longtime community managers.
The company has not announced a date for completely shutting down Old Reddit. Reddit spokesperson Rosa Kim told Ars Technica that the latest change is intended to reduce automated abuse rather than eliminate the interface for users and moderators who still depend on it.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has previously said the company needs to make changes to the aging system. Old Reddit is built on technology dating back to the early years of the platform and does not have the same modern security infrastructure as Reddit’s newer website.
Huffman said in August that Reddit could eventually limit access, move important functions to newer systems or rebuild portions of the Old Reddit experience on a modern technical foundation. Reddit has said it wants to preserve as much of the familiar interface as possible while reducing its usefulness to scrapers and other automated systems.
The restrictions are part of a much broader change in how Reddit allows outside programs to access its content. Reddit says it wants legitimate automation, including moderation tools and approved applications, to move toward its controlled Developer Platform rather than relying on older public systems.
Reddit is also ending its support for RSS feeds. RSS has allowed people to follow new posts from Reddit communities through independent feed readers without constantly visiting the website itself. Reddit says RSS has increasingly become a target for large-scale scraping and automated abuse.
Support for Reddit RSS feeds is scheduled to end on November 13. The company acknowledged that RSS has been an important part of the open web for many years and thanked people who have used it to stay connected to Reddit.
The change is significant for users who prefer independent RSS readers because Reddit has not announced a direct replacement for ordinary users. Some moderator-oriented tools may provide alternatives for specific workflows, but people who simply use RSS to follow communities will need another method after support ends.
Reddit is also moving toward ending traditional public API access. More than 14,000 apps and bots have already registered with the company as part of the transition. Developers are being encouraged to move their applications to Reddit’s Developer Platform, where the company can more closely control what software accesses and how it operates.
Beginning January 12, 2027, Reddit says it will start removing API access from apps and users that have not registered or begun working with the company. Remaining public API access is scheduled to end in March 2027. Reddit says developers of legitimate bots and applications are receiving migration assistance, technical guidance and access to funding programs.
The changes are closely connected to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence systems that depend on enormous amounts of online text for training and other purposes. Reddit contains billions of posts and comments covering everything from technical support and consumer advice to personal experiences and current events, making the platform particularly valuable as a source of conversational data.
Reddit has argued that companies should not be able to collect that information on a massive scale without permission. The company has signed licensing agreements with some technology companies while taking legal and technical action against other forms of automated data collection.
Reddit says more than 130 million people now visit the platform every day and participate in more than 100,000 communities. At that scale, the company says systems originally designed when Reddit was much smaller are increasingly difficult to protect from large automated operations.
The changes have caused concern among longtime users, particularly those who have relied on Old Reddit since before the company introduced its redesigned interface. Some users worry that each new limitation makes it easier for Reddit to eventually retire the old interface by reducing the number of people who are eligible to use it.
Reddit has not said that Old Reddit is about to disappear. Instead, the company says the restrictions are intended to keep the interface available for genuine users while making it less useful for automated data collection.
For longtime users, however, the future remains uncertain. Old Reddit is being preserved for now, but access is becoming increasingly controlled. At the same time, RSS feeds are disappearing and developers are being moved away from the traditional public API.
Together, the changes show how Reddit is becoming more restrictive about how its content can be accessed outside its own modern systems. The company says those restrictions are necessary to protect Reddit from scraping and abuse while still keeping important tools available to users, moderators and approved developers.