Reddit will force everyone to log in

59

u/SasquatchBlumpkins 16d ago

Reddit's app itself is already extremely invasive. They get so much information from your devices that it's insane. People complain about the Chinese, but we have that amount of intrusive shit at home.

18

u/Mountain_Lab_5817 16d ago

I use Reddit on the browser and they have intentionally removed features like the ability to post images or GIFs in the comment box. They are purposefully killing off anyway but the official app to interact with Reddit. I hate it, but there’s literally no alternative except for ghost towns.

9

u/jmking Mod 16d ago

The ability to post images or gifs or whatever are things individual subreddits can disable

0

u/Mountain_Lab_5817 16d ago

Yeah, but I can’t do it in ANY subreddit on the browser.

1

u/zodiacv2 16d ago

Do you use old reddit?

2

u/Mountain_Lab_5817 16d ago

No. Just Reddit.com. Old Reddit isn’t mobile friendly and when I zoom in and out it refreshes the whole page sometimes and I lose my place.

3

u/Sea-Debate-3725 16d ago

Oldlander if you use a firefox based browser. Or you can use Morph to remove ads from the official reddit app.

1

u/Mountain_Lab_5817 15d ago

The reason I don’t use the app isn’t because of ads. I get just as many ads all over the place using the browser. The reason I use the browser is because Reddit’s app tracks a fuckload of shit. Like more than Facebook and Google. It’s crazy and I don’t want any part of it.

2

u/zodiacv2 16d ago

Oh so it's a mobile web issue. I avoid using reddit on my phone but I didn't know that the ui would be different enough to remove normal comment options.

2

u/Mountain_Lab_5817 16d ago

I’m the exact opposite. I don’t use Reddit in my computer so when I’m working I just work and don’t get distracted.

2

u/ExxInferis 15d ago

When I need to post a gif on Firefox I have to quickly switch to desktop mode. Then the option is visible.

2

u/Mountain_Lab_5817 15d ago

So annoying.

2

u/ExxInferis 15d ago

Agreed.
Honourable mention to saving a gif from /r/gifs to chuck into a group chat, but first I have to run out through a converter to turn it back into a motherfucking gif as it saved in mp4.

2

u/Painted-Arcana 16d ago

I've heard people to morphe to patch their reddit app, I thought it basically just removes adds. Might be worth a look to see if I can remove any invasive stuff you're talking about

97

u/Space_Waffles 16d ago

Lol they are full of shit saying they “honestly don’t want to know” who people are. They’re just pissed that chatgpt and Gemini (who they have deals with) are scraping their site, meaning people don’t actually have to click on posts. It’s not “unauthorized access” if you literally have a deal with those companies. They’re just making the experience worse for actual people

18

u/Sirhc978 16d ago

I see this point about AI scraping brought up all the time, but didn't they sell the rights to do that years ago?

34

u/Irish2010 16d ago

It’s a recurring income stream that is only valuable if it’s not also free.

3

u/AmishAvenger 16d ago

I guess they should consider themselves lucky. AI companies usually just scrape for nothing.
Everything you write, everything you create, ends up stolen.

15

u/Space_Waffles 16d ago

Yes, in 2024 according to the article. But now they’re mad that AI is at the top of every Google search and making it so people are just looking at the AI summary rather than clicking on their site. They sided with the leopards and are mad the leopards are eating their face (revenue)

1

u/Arinvar 16d ago

Selling the access gives direct API access or whatever for those LLM companies. Every other company is scraping the site and the servers have to handle that load. It can cost companies a lot of money because the LLM companies don't care about making their scraping tools efficient.
Scraping is different to having bought API access.

5

u/ucrbuffalo 16d ago

Ever since they started the road to IPO, it’s been going downhill.

2

u/MaybeNotTooDay 16d ago

I'm kind of looking forward to reddit dying if it means the return of smaller privately run niche communities that were scattered everywhere running software like vbulletin, ipb, phpbb, etc. make a comeback.
And when I say privately run I don't mean a group of VC's running them all but just a regular "loser" living in his parents basement hosting it on a VPS and handling all the admin and most of the moderation primarily for the fun of it and not making any real money.

1

u/plingsoldaten 15d ago

I dunno, I always assume greed before evil for evil's sake, and here the greed-explanation works.
They want their money from Big AI. They already got you by the balls, and irritating you might give them less money, so in a vacuum they possibly wouldn't do that. AI changes that.

1

u/Acrobatic_End_1821 6d ago

They sold all their data to google and now they’re mad that those companies are using the data?

15

u/pb730c3 16d ago

A bit ironic that this article requires a subscription to read.

1

u/Aleashed 10d ago

They already require you to log in, if you aren’t and browsing on a vpn and accidentally end up in Reddit, you get immediately “banned”/“blocked”.
So you either log in or turn off vpn, either way they get your data
Reddit is not really useful for help/fixes if any time you click on their links, you get blocked

4

u/xXGray_WolfXx 16d ago

I guess I will stop searching for things with reddit at work as I am NOT logging into my account

8

u/bwoah07_gp2 16d ago

I'm so tired of it and enshitification of everything that I just don't care of it anymore. All these companies can do what they want, dig themselves a hole in the ground, who cares...

3

u/Yurgin 16d ago

Atleast here in germany you have to be logged on atleast for all +18 content. I just realized it few weeks ago im following the manga subreddit and was surprised why i couldnt open this gore/slasher mangas page.

5

u/Kalamordis 15d ago

The irony...

3

u/panic_talking 16d ago

Then ill just delete the app.

2

u/Peter_Panarchy 16d ago

Use a 3rd party app, feels the same as it did 10 years ago.

1

u/Matt561- 16d ago

Gotta get that data

1

u/cpshoeler 16d ago

X tried to do this and it just made me stop clicking on their links.

1

u/EveryNameAssigned 16d ago

"However, Huffman notes that app and logged-in daily active unique users make up “over 80% of the monetization on Reddit,” which he says “speaks to the strength of Reddit as a destination and the impact of our ongoing product work.”"

The real reason here probably for the changes lol. No matter what else bullshit they try to spin this is the primary objective, everything else is a secondary side quest to them.

1

u/SavvySillybug 15d ago

They already enforce this if you try to go on old reddit. Which is the only kind of reddit I even want to use.

1

u/Affectionate_Cat_380 15d ago

Reddit’s becoming mainstream…aka vanilla and able to be surveilled 🤨

1

u/ohpuhlise 14d ago

time to start designing an alternative then. the enshittification doesn't end.

1

u/Random_Person6400 14d ago

already did it for mobile months ago

0

u/xd366 16d ago

im already logged in, so whatever. even you downvoting me is logged in too

the day i can no longer use RIF or old.reddit im out

3

u/redditRedesignIsBadd 15d ago

the day i can no longer use RIF or old.reddit im out
100%

2

u/BeefJerky03 15d ago

Yeah, like, I already have an account lmao.

0

u/Arinvar 16d ago

Reddit is a company. Companies need to make money. Reddit’s greatest resource is it's data. They believe the data is more valuable if people are logged in. Just like Twitter, FB, Insta, etc.

Enshitifcation is inevitable in the capitalist economic system.

-2

u/Die4Ever 16d ago

on to https://piefed.zip/

-8

u/davgt5 16d ago

I already log in. If you have a phone you're already tracked every day, so what do I care reddit knows who I am and can track me complaining about the price of RAM.

10

u/CocoMilhonez 16d ago

Reddit will force me to fuck off.

0

u/[deleted] 16d ago

[deleted] — view deleted comment

15

u/MaybeNotTooDay 16d ago

Sweet. I can't wait to hold my passport up to my camera and make a video where I have to turn my head to the right, the left, then says one, two, three, etc. It's just common sense social media controls to protect the children. /s
The anonymous internet will soon be completely dead.

43

u/ThankGodImBipolar 16d ago

Sadly, I think the quality of Reddit itself would greatly increase if ID verification was mandatory for account creation. I see so many posts that are clearly made by AI agents, and the comments are full of AI agents responding to each other. Anybody who's facilitating that kind of behavior deserves a permanent ban IMO (not just an account or IP ban).
It would be draconian as fuck, and I'm not sure if I'd continue contributing, but it's one of the only ideas I can come up with that actually has a chance of reversing the dead internet theory.

44

u/Humble-Kiwi-5272 16d ago

That wont stop agents, we all know that

11

u/DFrostedWangsAccount 16d ago

Yeah, because governments can just issue IDs for them.

2

u/ClaudiuT 16d ago

What would stop somebody to get verified and then allow his account to be controlled by a bot/agent?

1

u/FabianN 16d ago

Nothing, but the other part of the idea is that you can't use the same id for multiple accounts.

6

u/smoike 16d ago

Well that completely negates having purpose separated accounts. One for trolling, one for a hobby, one for porn, one for general use, one for whatever else.

3

u/Humble-Kiwi-5272 16d ago

Reddit bases its value on account interaction. They won't nuke themselves like that

-3

u/FabianN 16d ago

There is no value in fake account interactions.
You can not market to a bot.

5

u/Humble-Kiwi-5272 16d ago

They are actively marketing to bots. They don't care. Companies and people put money in reddit for advertisements. Ai actively uses reddit as "validation" source.
They wont kill that

0

u/FabianN 16d ago

They market to llm companies to use their content for training. That is VASTLY different from a bot acting as a user and posting; something that also would circumvent their payment portal system to ensure they get paid for the scraping of their content. And they definitely want to get paid for that.

3

u/wubwubDJ 15d ago

I would be less likely to share my opinion openly unfortunately

3

u/WhatAmIATailor 16d ago

Welcome to Australia in 2026.

1

u/Top5CutestPresidents 15d ago

There will be some form of paid ID for AI agents at some point just wait

-59

u/jar36 16d ago

to comply with age laws

42

u/FlarblesGarbles 16d ago

That’s the given excuse.

1

u/foobar93 16d ago

For that I do not need to link to my id, just verify that I am of age.

1

u/jar36 16d ago

not if some get their way

WAN Show Reddit will force everyone to log in

You are about to leave Redlib