Reddit says Google's AI answers are cutting off its visitors

Reddit says it lost more than one million Google search referrals per week in October. A referral is a visit that starts when someone clicks a Google result. CEO Steve Huffman blames Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, the AI-written answers Google shows in search. Reddit's stock fell more than 25 percent, even though its earnings were strong.

What Reddit is saying

Huffman said: "AI Mode does not drive traffic. Not for us, and not to anybody as far as I know. That's just a fundamental shift in how Google works." Reddit says demand for the platform has not changed. In its telling, Google simply stopped sending people there.

How Reddit is responding

Reddit is testing login walls outside the U.S. A login wall asks visitors to sign in before they can see content. The goal is to curb scraping, which means automated copying of a site's content, and to depend less on the open web. Huffman sees a trade-off: less reach in exchange for deeper engagement. Reddit also wants to become a place people visit directly.

Talks continue with AI providers about licensing Reddit's data. Reddit already had a deal with Google and profited heavily from it. It is not certain that further deals will follow.

What is not known

Huffman's comment on other sites is limited to what he knows. The material does not say how widespread the drop is, and it includes no response from Google. The warning is still plain: any business that depends on Google for traffic faces the same structural risk.