Tech Desk 
Jul 25, 2024
Reddit, one of the most popular platforms globally for up-to-date news and trends, has started a crackdown against web crawlers.
Reportedly, Reddit has blocked some of the most popular search engines, such as Bing, DuckDuckGo, Mojeek, and Qwant, which do not pay for surfacing recent posts and comments on the website.
However, Google is the only mainstream search engine that is not being blocked by Reddit and still shows results when you search for posts on the website using the 'site.com' command, according to reports by 404 Media.
The report stated that Google is not included in the blocked engines list due to its recent $60 million deal in February this year, which allows the company to train its AI models on content from Reddit.
Meanwhile, Tim Rathschmidt, Reddit’s spokesperson, denied these allegations, saying the issue is not related to their recent deal with Google. Moreover, they have been in discussions with multiple search engines but have been unable to reach any agreements with them.
It is important to note that Kagi, a paid search engine, is still showing data because it buys some of its search index from Google.
This move by Reddit to block most popular search engines is bold, but it is not the first time. In recent years, Reddit has become more protective of its data as it seeks to open up new sources of revenue to attract investors.
Additionally, Reddit has made its API more expensive for some third-party developers and even threatened to cut off Google if it didn’t stop using its data for free to train its AI models.
