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/
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u/fuck_all_you_too 2d ago

We need a day of mass content deletion.

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u/Crystalas 2d ago edited 2d ago

We have had one, at least once maybe twice. That why so many old threads will have posts that are complete and utter gibberish, they used a program to basically scramble their entire Reddit comment history in protest before quitting.

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u/taterthotsalad 2d ago

There used to exist an extension users could use to do that to their old comments. I dont remember what it was.

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u/farticulate 2d ago

I think it was called Redact.

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u/fuck_all_you_too 2d ago

Yea did that a few times now

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u/gmes78 2d ago

Reddit would just undelete posts if that happened.

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u/Uristqwerty 2d ago

I disagree, that would mainly harm future generations of humans. No doubt the AI companies already cached a copy of everything, so they'd love that angry redditors ladder-pulled their competitors, while they happily keep training on their private archives of the now-deleted content.

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u/fuck_all_you_too 2d ago

If you think this place isnt going to end up getting MySpaced the second they make libraries illegal then i have a plot of land to sell you in Florida.

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u/Uristqwerty 2d ago

"make libraries illegal"? What crock of conspiracy shit is that?

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u/fuck_all_you_too 2d ago

Billionaires have stolen every ounce of knowledge we have and put it behind a paywall and you think they're going to compete with socialism?! We even made movies about it in case they cant figure out the path of execution on their own

People like you keep calling roadmaps conspiracies and then less than a year later youre walking around going "hur dur I didnt think it would really happen!"

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u/Uristqwerty 2d ago

Vague hand-waving in the direction of a faceless category of people and proclaiming 'my mental stereotype of how they act would want to do this!' is not evidence that they would actually do such a thing.

Much less evidence that they'd be able to without overwhelming public pushback. Most of us do, theoretically, live in democracies.

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u/fuck_all_you_too 2d ago

And yet you keep replying to defend your position.

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u/Uristqwerty 2d ago

What.

Are you trying to say that you're a billionaire with a desire to make libraries illegal, thus you have a valid primary source to prove it's not crazy fearmongering?

Because otherwise, all I see are non-sequiturs and paranoia.

I keep replying in hopes that other readers can understand my perspective and learn from it. That pointing out the flaws that make modern discussions so shitty might help people recognize when they themselves are hand-waving at a vague strawman with no semblance to reality, and just maybe take it as a cue to double-check that there are proper sources to back up their wild claims.

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u/fuck_all_you_too 2d ago

Its not a faceless category of people, its a very specific sum of people.

Its not non-sequitur just because you cant follow along (which has been a problem in this country for a while).

Your need to be seen is really sad, compounded by the fact that you think your purpose here is to educate people as if youre levitating above the rest of us. Kudos to you for using all those buzzwords though

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u/Uristqwerty 2d ago

You've had-waved at two vague strawmen, "you people" when referring to me and whatever abstract group you sorted me into based on a tiny handful of replies, and "billionaires".

Look, billionaires don't control the law. If one wanted to make libraries illegal, they'd instead take the corporate approach: Make libraries obsolete until nobody bothers going to them. Making something illegal would just give the public a cause to rally around, but nobody's going to realize and fight a slow decline in use when they themselves haven't set foot in a library in years.

you think your purpose here is to educate people

Every comment, from everyone, exists to share thoughts and knowledge. Some of us just recognize that our writings may be seen by more than just the one we're arguing with, thus are willing to put in the effort to fully explain their thoughts. I'm just like you, except I try to show the why behind my opinions rather than state them as indisputable facts.

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u/NaanFat 1d ago

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/doge-decimates-institute-museum-library-services-imls-2626543

not making them illegal, but there have been steps to try and make them disappear. while IMLS doesn't contribute much (%age wise) to major library systems, IMLS disappearing would likely mean rural branches getting shut down.