Reddit will make logging in the default after Google search referrals fell by more than 1M a week in October.

Those referrals fed a logged-out majority: in Q2, 30.1M of Reddit’s 53.2M US daily users browsed without accounts.

As AI answers replace clicks, US daily users fell to 50.7M in Q3, and Reddit warned daily users could drop by a low-double-digit percentage next quarter.

The login wall won’t bring search traffic back. Reddit is accepting that loss and earning more from those who stay.

Logged-out visitors were mostly one-time Google arrivals that advertisers paid little for, and AI search answers are removing them anyway. Logged-in users reveal their interests through subscriptions and votes, so ads target better and sell for more.

Reddit has said they’re worth about 3x logged-out visitors. A login also makes Reddit harder to scrape, pushing AI companies toward paid data deals.