Reddit to Require Login for Old Reddit Access
Reddit announced that within the next month, users will need to log in to access old.reddit.com. The change is part of efforts to curb automated scraping and abusive traffic on the platform.
Reddit has announced a significant change for users of its classic interface. Starting within the next month, accessing old.reddit.com will require a login. The news was shared on the social media platform by a Reddit employee going by the username boat-botany, who stated that the move is part of ongoing efforts to “tighten how automated systems access Reddit.”
The employee explained that the logged-out experience on Old Reddit is a major source of abusive scraping and automated traffic. “To strike the right balance between preserving your access to Old Reddit while preventing abusive scraping and automated traffic, over the next month we will start requiring everyone to log in,” boat-botany wrote.
In a follow-up comment, the employee defined abusive behavior as activity that violates Reddit’s rules against interfering with “normal use” or creating programs that break Reddit’s API policies. “By logging in, we get a lot more signal that allows us to detect whether an account is breaking the rules, and then we can block that traffic or enforce those accounts,” boat-botany said.
As of this writing, old.reddit.com remains accessible without login. However, the announcement is likely to disappoint many longtime users who prefer the classic layout for its simplicity and who value the ability to browse without logging in for convenience or privacy reasons.
When asked why New Reddit isn’t scraped as often, the employee pointed to a comment from another user, Nestramutat, who noted: “The shape of malicious traffic is always changing. It’s going to be a constant cat and mouse game… As you ban one method, a new one gets developed.” The employee added that Old Reddit lacks a modern security stack, making it a greater challenge to defend against abuse.
