Reddit will restrict Old Reddit to users active within six months

Why it matters

Reddit is turning its scraping response into an access policy: a login is no longer sufficient, and continued use of Old Reddit now depends on recent activity. The shift also puts Huffman's August options - limit access, migrate workflows or rebuild the interface - into practice.

Reddit will limit Old Reddit to logged-in users who have visited the legacy site within the previous six months, extending a login requirement introduced in July. Logged-in moderators will remain exempt, and Reddit says the new rule will arrive in the next few months without giving a specific enforcement date.

The change is part of a broader infrastructure push that CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman outlined in August. Huffman, who says he built Old Reddit as a teenager, wrote that Reddit was approaching a point where it needed to change the service. His options included limiting access, moving important uses elsewhere and rebuilding the interface on a modern technology stack. The six-month rule is a concrete step toward the first of those options; Reddit has not said whether or when it will rebuild Old Reddit.

In its September 30th post to moderators, Reddit said the July login requirement reduced scraping and automated abuse, but still let any logged-in account use Old Reddit, even accounts with no history on the site. The next rule narrows that opening: a logged-in account must have used Old Reddit at least once in the previous six months. Reddit says that threshold covers the vast majority of current Old Reddit users, but provided no usage figures alongside the claim.

Reddit describes the change as a way to preserve Old Reddit for people who rely on it while making automated access harder. The company has also said logged-out traffic to Old Reddit was a significant source of scraping and automated traffic. Requiring a login gives Reddit account-level information it says helps identify and block abusive activity. The six-month test adds another filter after authentication: a login alone will no longer be enough for users without recent Old Reddit activity.

The policy follows a June 30th announcement that Reddit would require users to log in to visit Old Reddit. At the time, a Reddit employee said the older site lacks the modern security technology used on Reddit's main site. Reddit's spokesperson Rosa Kim told Ars Technica that the latest restriction is intended to limit unauthenticated access and reduce abuse, not to remove Old Reddit for people and moderators who rely on it.

That assurance sits alongside a changing explanation of the site's future. In 2025, Huffman said Reddit would keep Old Reddit online as long as people used it. On August 5th, he said the company would probably limit access, migrate important uses and rebuild the interface on a modern foundation. The September rule is consistent with that plan, though Reddit has not announced a shutdown date or committed to preserving the interface unchanged.

The same September 30th moderator update puts Old Reddit's restriction alongside changes to Reddit's other access routes. Reddit plans to stop supporting RSS feeds on November 13th, describing RSS as a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse. It recommends alternative tools for moderators' alerts, but says there will be no replacement for people using RSS feeds outside communities they moderate. For moderators, the company says the exception to the Old Reddit rule will continue, while RSS-dependent workflows are expected to migrate to supported alternatives.

The practical effect of the six-month rule is straightforward: users who have not visited Old Reddit recently will need to use another Reddit interface unless they are logged-in moderators. The policy protects the existing audience Reddit says it wants to retain, while making access depend on recent use. Reddit's own claim that most current users will qualify suggests it expects the change to filter occasional or automated traffic more than its regular Old Reddit audience. The company has not published figures to show how many accounts will lose access.