Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots

Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots | TechCrunch

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Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots

10:45 AM PDT · September 30, 2026

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.

Reddit says RSS has now become a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse, which is why its made the decision to wind down RSS feeds on its platform.

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.

Reddit said RSS support will cease on November 13.

RSS, 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 sites new posts in a news-reading app. Google once operated the most popular of these, but shut it down in 2013, ceding the market to companies like Feedly and other indie applications.

The decision to kill Reddits RSS feeds comes at a time when the sites 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.

During its second quarter, Reddit said its other revenue beyond advertising had grown 24% year-over-year to $43 million. Its no wonder that Reddit doesnt want to give any of that data away for free.

For moderators who have relied on RSS channels for their own alerts, Reddit is now recommending a shift to the 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 theres no disruption. However, Reddit said that theres no replacement for the use of RSS feeds that were being used for feeds outside of the moderators community.

Moderators have already expressed worry about how this shift would impact their workflow. When Reddit hinted earlier that it was preparing for the end of RSS on its site, many responded by complaining that Reddit would become unmanageable for them. Meanwhile, many users stressed that RSS was how they enjoyed accessing Reddits content.

The RSS change was one of several updates issued on Wednesday by the company. Another big change will be the end of its public API.

Public 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.

In 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.

Reddit 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.

The company also reminded developers building approved third-party apps and bots to register them with the company before January 12, 2027, to avoid disruption. After that date, Reddit will remove API access for any developer that hasnt registered.

AI, AI, Apps, Open Web, Reddit, RSS, Social, TC

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Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.

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