Old Reddit set for more changes as AI scraping fight mount

Old Reddit, the legacy desktop interface preferred by long-time users since the platform's 2018 redesign, faces further changes as Reddit steps up its fight against AI data scraping.

The company says it "plans to make changes" involving the classic version, though it insists this is not the end of the road for old.reddit.com.

However, Reddit already started requiring user authentication for accessing the old application since the beginning of this year. According to the company, the main reason why Old Reddit was abused and scraped so much before is due to the absence of user authentication.

According to the Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, the next step will be the migration of important bots and moderation work flows to the new technology stack. However, as to other potential changes, the company hasn't said anything concrete. In any case, Steve Huffman mentioned that "probably all of the above will happen".

The Old Reddit changes fit a broader pattern this year, including the introduction of account verification procedures to combat AI-related fraud and the restriction of unauthenticated API access, which Reddit said could be used to scrape the platform without accountability.

Third-party developers are now being pushed toward Reddit's proprietary Developer Platform, backed by a $1 million migration programme to ease the transition.

Reddit, at the same time, is expanding the application of AI-driven moderation technology. For example, the company is rolling out the test of Rules Hub, an advanced system where moderators get to decide what will be done with each rule – either send a submission to the moderation queue or delete it.

Unlike Reddit’s existing Automoderator, which uses keyword matching, Rules Hub utilises language models for detecting the intention behind each rule.

This system has been tested in over 700 communities and is available for all new subreddits, while a full-scale release of the product is expected this year.