Reddit lost more than one million referrals from Google search per week in October, CEO Steve Huffman said. He blamed Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode for the decline, saying: “AI Mode does not drive traffic. Not for us, and not to anybody as far as I know.” Huffman called it “a fundamental shift in how Google works.”
Reddit’s shares fell more than 25 percent despite what The Decoder described as strong earnings. The report links the drop to concerns about Google sending fewer visitors, but does not give a breakdown of what drove the stock move. Huffman said demand for Reddit itself had not changed; his point was that Google was sending fewer people to the site.
How Reddit is responding
Reddit is testing login walls in countries outside the United States. Huffman said the move is meant to curb scraping and reduce the company’s dependence on the open web. He described a trade-off: Reddit may get less reach, but the visitors who do arrive may engage more deeply. The report does not say where the tests are running or whether Reddit plans to expand them.
The company is also continuing talks with AI providers about licensing its data. Reddit previously made a data deal with Google, which The Decoder says was highly profitable for the company. It remains unclear whether Reddit will sign additional agreements.
A risk for sites that rely on search
Huffman presented Reddit’s referral losses as a warning for other businesses that depend on Google search to bring people to their websites. The figures in this account are specific to Reddit, though: they do not show how much traffic other sites have lost or whether AI search is the cause in each case. For Reddit, the change highlights a tension between limiting access to its content and relying on search to introduce new visitors.
Why it matters
For people who find Reddit through Google, fewer search referrals could make discussions and answers harder to discover there. Reddit is testing login requirements as one response, but it is not yet clear where those tests apply or whether they will become permanent.
