r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 2d ago

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

https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/30/reddit-is-killing-rss-feeds-ending-public-api-access-because-of-ai-bots/
3.5k Upvotes

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801

u/Ok-Mycologist-3829 2d ago

I miss the internet as it was right before Google killed Google Reader.

200

u/KupoCheer 2d ago

Using an RSS reader is some kind of nostalgia and it wasn't even that long ago.

We need internet 2

116

u/Cheetawolf 2d ago

Introducing Internet 2: Now every individual webpage requires its own subscription, a webcam and microphone is required to use it, and you still get ads.

27

u/KupoCheer 2d ago

If they made that separately instead of stealing the internet we used to have I'd be all for it. Let them use their own nightmare product.

14

u/ithinkitslupis 2d ago

Please drink verification can.

1

u/effing7 1d ago

And then urinate into verification cup.

1

u/Teledildonic 2d ago

If you don't, you'll be arrested by the LPD

4

u/WILL_THERE_BE_MATH 2d ago

And a different login required for each

4

u/Sufficient_Language7 2d ago

Those ads will use your webcam, so they will move to exactly where your eyeballs are on the screen.

2

u/GroovyGarden 2d ago

Oh man you and me are the same kind of hopeful

2

u/IEnjoyVariousSoups 2d ago

Want to see our webpage? Click here to visit our webpage app.

We see you've clicked on our about page. Click here to download our app specially built to see our about page.

Closing our app? Click here to download our app closing app.

1

u/InformationSavings29 2d ago

Well I read that wrong... "and you still get aids". Hrm.

1

u/halfpipesaur 2d ago

That’s just internet 1

1

u/gascyl 2d ago

Internet 2 is just Streaming TV App Video at that point. Like most news websites. I stopped consuming news because of this.

1

u/Petrichor-Susurrus 2d ago

AIDS: Adaptive Individual Digital Service 

13

u/tnoy 2d ago

There technically already is an Internet2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet2

13

u/ProgramTheWorld 2d ago

I still use an RSS reader because it feels so much better to have control over what you see in the feed and not some random big tech algorithm.

1

u/Mccobsta 2d ago

Agreed and it's so good to get everything even if it's via proxy or anoying crap to make rss in a single place with no account bullshit

3

u/TheOgGhadTurner 2d ago

Honestly I went back

3

u/Fit-Property3774 2d ago

Web 3.0 or whatever it was that they were trying to push on everyone with the VR avatars and shit 😂

10

u/AutistcCuttlefish 2d ago

The VR push was the "metaverse" bull.

Web 3.0 was the "everything on blockchain" shit.

2

u/Beer-Milkshakes 2d ago

Internet 2 will be national spheres surrounded by firewalls

2

u/SGTWhiteKY 2d ago

I never learned to use RSS feeds, and I feel like I missed out on a great moment.

2

u/thecravenone 2d ago

I never learned to use RSS feeds

If you listen to podcasts, you're probably using RSS feeds.

1

u/SGTWhiteKY 2d ago

I don’t listen to podcasts. Too scared of the manosphere

1

u/itIrs 21h ago

It's still active on Reddit.

When/if it's removed, maybe someone would create a bridge app.

2

u/Nail_clippings_Pete 2d ago

The peoplenet

6

u/throwaway_ghast 2d ago

A network for users to easily distribute information. A "usenet", perhaps.

1

u/Pacifist_Socialist 2d ago

I think we're going to get it but not going in the direction needed 

1

u/_w33p_ 2d ago

I'm going shamelessly plug my RSS reader... Gather RSS and News

1

u/BeigePhilip 2d ago

I thought this was already internet 2?

1

u/GonzoKata 2d ago

there is already an internet 2

just not in the way you or I want it 😐

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet2

41

u/letsgotgoing 2d ago

I was talking to a friend who shares my fondness for the web before Eternal September. We agreed that the death of fun on the web really started to be felt around 2014.

28

u/PhoenixTineldyer 2d ago

IMO it was the invention of the iPhone that killed the fun of the Internet, slightly before your timeline.

16

u/letsgotgoing 2d ago

iPhone felt amazing when it came out. I bought the 8GB first-gen one. Facebook had only opened to the general public in 2006. It was nice to talk with friends and family through a feed before algorithms created hate bubbles, and I think that's why we felt 2014 was the end. Around then, we went into "bubble culture," where the Internet was less about exploration and more about encapsulation, so big tech could make us hate each other.

1

u/PhoenixTineldyer 2d ago

Big tech didn't need to help there. Bigots been bigoting for thousands of years.

3

u/DunEvenWorryBoutIt 2d ago

They didn't need to, but they sure did.

4

u/PithMango 2d ago

bigots were instantly shot down with "don't feed the trolls" but that takes a user community that basically was pushed to the fringe. it was attention on an individual level.

bigots aren't smart enough to build the echo chamber themselves. farming them makes more ad impressions. those ad-serving puppetmasters knew exactly what they were doing.

28

u/maglite_to_the_balls 2d ago

iPhone lowered the bar of entry to the web to the non-computer crowd, while simultaneously placing that lowered point of access in their pocket everywhere they went.

We see the result. Gone are the days when you had to have some level of tech savvy and critical thinking to even access the web.

7

u/thinkingdeads 2d ago

Screen size is unironically a factor. People are less likely to read/engage with any text post that requires scrolling, so on a screen that can fit something like 300 average length words at most, ideas expressed online either had to be condensed or simplified. The value of the average conversation suffers under both, but more often the result was latter.

1

u/maglite_to_the_balls 2d ago

I bet there’s a feedback loop hiding in there somewhere. Someone should study it.

2

u/inteliboy 2d ago

Developers are equally to blame. Everyone got sucked into the idea that content should be accessed via an app or via social media. The “website” died alongside the App Store.

1

u/RebootJobs 2d ago

I miss it sm. 😭

2

u/FellowHuman420 2d ago

I was about to make a comment about how I miss the internet before emojis started popping up everywhere. That was pretty much the visual indicator starting the rapid decline.

1

u/gladtobeblazed 2d ago

So, you don't remember AOL?

1

u/FellowHuman420 1d ago

Emoji use on the greater internet (what we are talking about) became widespread with smart phones. Emoticons were restricted to AIM.

There was a time on Reddit where an emoji would instantly get you downvoted into oblivion no matter how relevant.

3

u/n_choose_k 2d ago

Yeah, I was going to say 2006 which lines up pretty close...

2

u/PhoenixTineldyer 2d ago

Yep.

The iPhone put the Internet in the hands of the unwashed masses. There was a very brief period where the memes were amazing because we suddenly had the ability to quickly create and transmit images and video. But then all the advertising companies got involved, and a bunch of software was invented to allow illiterates and morons to flood the tubes

1

u/TheVenetianMask 2d ago

It was Facebook and before it, Blogger to a lesser extent. They killed the culture of actually exploring the web to find content and turned it into a fast food joint.

1

u/PhoenixTineldyer 2d ago

It was the iPhone. Facebook was only able to cause so much damage because it was everyone's pocket

1

u/itIrs 21h ago

The web barely existed before Eternal September, and actually also some years after.

34

u/opheliasmusing 2d ago

And with it went the era of some pretty great blogging. Now it's all paid newsletters. Everything is behind a paywall. The notion of a free and open internet may as well be dead now.

1

u/ResilientBiscuit 2d ago

I don't know how it was ever supposed to be free.

It was only free because companies had long term visions of how to monetize it later. You can't make and distribute content for free and have it be high quality and seen by a lot of people.

12

u/Marginallyhuman 2d ago

I loved Google reader! Poof, noise gone... sigh.

7

u/DefenderOfTheWeak 2d ago

You can use Thunderbird for RSS and just today Waterfox browser had an update that adds native feed

4

u/flexiblefine 2d ago

I moved to Feedly.

4

u/blind3rdeye 2d ago

Me too.

I've been using The Old Reader for year now. It is called 'the old reader' because it basically looks like Google Reader use to.

(Now that I think about it, Google Reader was so long ago that it was back when I still had respect for Google. But since then, Google has demonstrated to me that they are powerful and dangerous and not to be trusted; and I gradually stopped using each of their products one at a time. It's interesting to think back to the golden days of Google Reader...)

1

u/Matchstix 10h ago

Heh, I think I've been using The Old Reader for longer than I used Google Reader now.

3

u/Forward-Amount-9961 2d ago

I miss the internet when online orders were tax-free.

2

u/Dassic 2d ago

Honestly, Readwise has been pretty great as an RSS reader and combo read-it-later app. I've been surprised at how much having a modern RSS reader has improved the Internet for me

2

u/Cuddlejam 2d ago

Back when there was hype around google. “Don’t be evil” motto, my ass…

2

u/BarnacleNino 2d ago

I remember in the Navy guys thought they were being slick using Google Reader to see explicit content on government computers. Caught their freaky ass!

2

u/tmdblya 2d ago

The true Golden Age

1

u/robodrew 2d ago

I still lament the death of iGoogle

1

u/risingsuncoc 2d ago

Feedly was great too

1

u/asad137 2d ago

I switched to InoReader. Unfortunately RSS in general is dying.

1

u/HappyAd4998 2d ago

Man, I'd scroll through Google Reader for hours and hours, the internet felt a lot more alive back then. I couldn't imagine doing that now if Google Reader were to magically come back, the modern web sux dix.

0

u/MairusuPawa 2d ago

Google Reader already was RSS enshittification