Reddit's Old Interface Faces Uncertain Future

Reddit's legacy desktop version, Old Reddit, is slated for unspecified "changes" as the company intensifies its fight against AI scraping. The platform announced these necessary alterations to protect users and its business from abusive practices. Significant steps include migrating critical bots and moderator workflows away from the old interface.

In recent months, Reddit began restricting logged-out access to Old Reddit, citing it as a source of scraping. While a definitive shutdown date remains unannounced, a spokesperson indicated that the company is "exploring different options" for the legacy site, assuring that affected communities and developers will be kept informed.

These moves are part of Reddit's broader strategy against unauthorized data use. The company previously began charging for API access in 2023 to prevent data from training large language models, which led to third-party client failures. Now, Reddit is phasing out its API entirely, pushing third-party apps to its controlled Developer Platform, Devit.

Furthermore, Reddit is overhauling its moderation tools with the introduction of Rules Hub, an LLM-based system designed to replace the traditional AutoMod. Rules Hub promises to better interpret the "intent of a rule" for more nuanced enforcement.