Reddit is putting in measures to prevent The Internet Archive from scraping its content and backing it up. Reddit officials say this new change is a result of AI scrapers being able to parse through The Wayback Machine's content, even when Reddit blocks them from scraping their own site. Currently, Reddit allows AI to be trained off of its data, but only through paid access, such as its deal with Google in 2024. There's further concern from Reddit's side, as they also believe that The Internet Archive should better respect privacy and not host content that users choose to remove, such as deleted comments.

The new changes have already gone out, and for now, The Wayback Machine can only preserve the front page of Reddit, and not specific subreddits or user profiles.

Source

 

[subcon959]

Would anyone here miss Reddit if it didn't exit?

 

[yankii]

Very disappointing considering how many help "forums" are on Reddit and how so many people there are mass deleting their posts.

Would anyone here miss Reddit if it didn't exit?

Reddit is still the biggest source of human help online; most of my searches have "Reddit" at the end now that AI has taken over the internet.

 

[previous_member]

Would anyone here miss Reddit if it didn't exit?

I would a little. Reddit has helped me out in the past finding obscure things, or 'how-to' information on fixing something.

 

[Skelletonike]

Well, this is stupid, but I honestly wouldn't expect anything else from Reddit.
They constantly make the most absurd possible choices.

 

[Wolfy]

So the only issue is that they aren't getting money from Internet Archive, got it. If Reddit didn't have tons of very specific information for troubleshooting and just plenty of content for niche categories or media, then I'd probably be fine with it ceasing to exist, one of the worst places to chat if you aren't in a small community that isn't run by power-hungry mods.

 

[Dissenta]

Explain to me like in 5 why I should give a shit about this and why it's news worthy?

 

[whitesword7]

Would anyone here miss Reddit if it didn't exit?

in 2025? I do actually because google has become so crap nowadays and to find anything useful I need to add “ reddit” at the end of my search keyword every. single. time.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Explain to me like in 5 why I should give a shit about this and why it's news worthy?

Did you never use the Wayback Machine to access information lost otherwise?

Too many things get deleted.

I avoid Reddit as much as possible, but sometimes information is found there. Preservation matters.

 

[NetSanity]

Would anyone here miss Reddit if it didn't exit?

It's an absolute shithole, and it's usefulness lessens every day, but I do of course believe there is information on the site worthy of preserving. I can't count how many times I've been helped with a very specific and niche problem because of a stranger on Reddit!

 

[Sicklyboy]

Explain to me like in 5 why I should give a shit about this and why it's news worthy?

Because this is yet another large website/community/resource that is taking action to further restrict the ability to access and preserve information, media, and internet history.

 

[whitesword7]

Did you never use the Wayback Machine to access information lost otherwise?

Too many things get deleted.

I avoid Reddit as much as possible, but sometimes information is found there. Preservation matters.

I’ll try to talk in a language where the kids would understand… We would never found the origin of the backroom if wayback machine doesn’t archive the original blog

 

[raxadian]

To be fair the Web Archive it is having bandwidth problems thanks to AI scrappers so it is almost like making them a favor.

The best solution I can think of is that Reddit gets archived but the content is blocked like the Web Archive does with some stuff.

That way it is not lost forever.

 

[LexDG]

Just wait till reddit gets in bed with a supper aggressive anti adblocker…

 

[Marc_LFD]

Very disappointing considering how many help "forums" are on Reddit and how so many people there are mass deleting their posts.

Reddit is still the biggest source of human help online; most of my searches have "Reddit" at the end now that AI has taken over the internet.

"Reddit" and "human help" uh... Pass.

 

[Bladexdsl]

Would anyone here miss Reddit if it didn't exit?

people say the same thing about youtube and tik tok but doesn't mean they are going away anytime soon

 

[The Catboy]

So Reddit isn’t satisfied with ruining forums; they are now looking to ruin internet preservation? I wish that shit hole would die already. We need to return to specialized forums!

 

[Flame]

people say the same thing about youtube and tik tok but doesn't mean they are going away anytime soon

Did Bladexdsl make a mind-blowing comment?

Australia blocking porn has made him cum to his senses.

 

[alexfree]

Would anyone here miss Reddit if it didn't exit?

If Reddit didn’t exist we would have more great sites such as this. Reddit already block VPN guests and having to hit 10 (+) buttons to expand the sub comment answers to things makes me avoid it like the plague. Posts also die and I hate the format where new comments don’t bump an old thread back up.

 

[The Catboy]

people say the same thing about youtube and tik tok but doesn't mean they are going away anytime soon

Sadly, the world is full of normies with the critical thinking skills of a wet cucumber. Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook will continue to thrive because the vast majority of the population aren’t willing to spend more than a few seconds looking past the surface of the internet