Will Reddit lose casual readers by forcing users to sign in?

Reddit will test requiring users to sign in before browsing its content in selected markets outside the United States during the fourth quarter of 2026. The company said logged-in and app users account for more than 80% of monetization and most engagement, and Huffman said sign-in could improve personalization and advertising and help prevent unauthorized scraping; users would not have to reveal real-world identities. The test follows third-quarter revenue growth of 53% to $895 million, while daily U.S. users fell 2% to 50.7 million and October search referrals dropped by more than 1 million a week. Reddit warned that fourth-quarter daily users could fall by a low double-digit percentage, and its shares fell 18% in evening trading.