Reddit plans to make everyone log in, with tests starting outside the US
Anyone can read the site without an account today. The company says that will end, beginning with trials in selected countries in the coming months.
Reddit, the discussion site many people land on through a web search, is moving to a logged-in-only service, its chief executive Steve Huffman said in a shareholder letter published with the company's third-quarter results on Thursday.
At the moment anyone can read posts on the site without an account. Reddit will first test the requirement in what it calls select markets outside the US, over the coming months. It has not named those markets and has given no date for a wider rollout.
What logged-out visitors will see
The details are not settled. Huffman said on the earnings call that the company still has to work out when a logged-out visitor will be stopped by a firm prompt to sign in. Some version of Reddit will remain viewable for a time for people arriving from a shared link or a search, he said, before that prompt appears.
He also said Reddit does not need to know who a logged-in user is.
Why it is changing
Reddit's reasons include a better experience for users, more signals for targeting adverts, and more protection for its data. According to Huffman, most unauthorised access to Reddit's data happens through the logged-out version of the site.
The company also said search traffic was down in the third quarter, and that in October referrals from search fell by more than 1 million a week on average.
