201
Reddit plans to lock some content behind a paywall this year, CEO says (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 week ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
52 comments fedilink hide all child comments

When asked about "new, key features that you plan to roll out for Reddit in 2025," Huffman responded, in part: “Paid subreddits, yes.”

Reddit's paywall would ostensibly only apply to certain new subreddit types, not any subreddits currently available. In August, Huffman said that even with paywalled content, free Reddit would "continue to exist and grow and thrive."

A critical aspect of any potential plan to make Reddit users pay to access subreddit content is determining how related Reddit users will be compensated. Reddit may have a harder time getting volunteer moderators to wrangle discussions on paid-for subreddits—if it uses volunteer mods at all. Balancing paid and free content would also be necessary to avoid polarizing much of Reddit's current user base.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Banzai51@midwest.social 9 points 1 week ago

Of course it will be the porn.

[-] gk99@beehaw.org 2 points 6 days ago

Great way to lose all of the traffic. This would require two things:

  1. Accounts, which is automatic friction. Whether that's people who have no account and only come to browse, whether that's people having to make a second account or choose to be horny on main, this is definitely going to cause some user loss.
  2. Willingness to pay reddit for porn, which like, no. They'd be better off giving paid user pages and simply taking a cut so OnlyFans creators can treat reddit similarly. I don't think many people are gonna want to pay for what amounts to teasers for other paid options.

Additionally, this would mean reddit is acknowledging the porn on their site and taking responsibility for it by profiting off of it. Therefore, because reddit is an American company, this will kill off their audience in Texas and Oklahoma where, effectively, American-hosted porn websites are banned.

[-] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 days ago

you already need an account for NSFW stuff on reddit fyi

[-] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 6 days ago

no? Just claim to be a desktop computer.

[-] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago

yes, it will block you

[-] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 5 days ago

weird, for me it works even with just setting a mobile browser to "desktop mode".

[-] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Weird, must depend on the region or something. Good to know.

this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
201 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

38089 readers
385 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org
gyrfalcon@beehaw.org
rs5th@beehaw.org
coldredlight@beehaw.org
SemioticStandard@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@kbin.social
remington@beehaw.org