Reddit says it will stop providing RSS feeds on November 13 and end public API access by March 2027. The company attributes the retreat from these open routes to large-scale scraping and automated abuse. The decision affects more than AI companies: moderators, independent readers, researchers and software products also use programmatic access to Reddit discussions.
The dates and the distinction between RSS and API access matter. An RSS feed helps a person or application follow updates in a standard format. An API lets software retrieve and work with data more directly. Reddit’s announcement closes both public routes on different schedules, while pointing approved developers and moderators toward alternative arrangements.
RSS readers and moderators face the nearer deadline
Reddit says RSS has become a common surface for automated abuse and will cease on November 13. TechCrunch reports that many people used feeds as a convenient way to follow communities outside Reddit’s own interface. Moderators have also relied on RSS for alerts about activity they need to manage. The article cites concerns from moderators that removing those feeds could make their work harder.
Reddit is recommending the Discord Relay app on its Devvit platform for moderation teams that need an alerting workflow. It has urged teams to review their current setups and migrate before the shutdown. That proposal addresses one operational use, but the company says it has no replacement for RSS feeds used outside a moderator’s community. For a reader using a news app to follow public posts, the suggested moderation tool is therefore not a like-for-like substitute.
The company has discussed its plans to end RSS before, according to TechCrunch. The new announcement fixes a shutdown date and makes the practical transition more immediate. Reddit presents the removal as an abuse-control measure; the report does not quantify how much scraping traffic arrived through RSS or how the change will affect legitimate feed users.
Public API access is next
The public API is due to close by March 2027. TechCrunch says that change will affect software that uses Reddit conversations programmatically, including social-listening services, research tools and AI assistants. Assistants that currently consult Reddit to answer questions would need commercial data arrangements after the closure, according to the article.
Reddit also reminded developers of approved third-party applications and bots to register with the company before January 12, 2027. It says developers who fail to register will lose API access after that date. This registration deadline is distinct from the later end of public API access. The source does not spell out the terms that every approved developer would receive, so registration should not be mistaken for a guarantee of unchanged access.
The decision arrives while Reddit earns money from licensing its user-generated content for AI uses. TechCrunch notes that the company’s second-quarter “other revenue,” a category beyond advertising, rose 24% year over year to $43 million. That number is not presented as a pure AI-licensing figure. The report draws a connection between the commercial value of Reddit data and the end of free public routes, but Reddit’s stated reason for the closures is scraping and automated abuse.
A wider change in who can reach the data
The announcement includes restrictions beyond RSS and the public API. Reddit says it will add protections to Old Reddit, its text-heavy interface, because of abusive scraping and automated traffic. Access is to be limited to logged-in moderators and users who have used Old Reddit within the previous six months. TechCrunch says Reddit changed that recent-use period from an earlier three-month plan while the news was being reported.
These measures will not all take effect together. RSS users face November’s cutoff, developers have a January registration date, and the public API shutdown is planned for March. Moderators may have a suggested migration route, while researchers and outside feed readers are left with different questions about future access.
The confirmed change is Reddit’s announced schedule and its stated rationale. How much abusive collection the closures will prevent, and what access remains viable for legitimate public-interest uses, are not established in the TechCrunch report. The outcome will depend on the arrangements Reddit offers as the deadlines arrive.
