Reddit Blocks Major Search Engines and AI Bots, Except Paying Ones: Google an Exception
Reddit blocks its results from search engines, apart from Google. (Image Credit: Credit:Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
- Bing, DuckDuckGo, Mojeek, and Qwant are no longer displaying up-to-date Reddit results.
- Paid search engine Kagi still shows data as it purchases some search index data from Google.
- A $60 million AI deal with Google is believed to be behind the decision, Reddit denies this.
Up-to-date Reddit results are no longer appearing on search engines outside of Google, or ones that pay for the privilege.
Further tightening Google’s stranglehold on cyberspace, the move from Reddit has once again raised concerns over the search engine titan’s dominance over the Internet.
Reddit Blocks Search Engines
Reddit has started blocking search engines from displaying recent posts and comments, other than Google.
Initially reported by 404 Media , search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo are no longer able to display Reddit results in their searches. Speculation as to why Reddit has made this decision points to a $60 million deal that was inked in February 2024, between the cyberspace giants.
In this deal, Google was granted the right to train its AI models on Reddit content. Fast forward to today, and Reddit denies that the decision had anything to do with this deal. The firm claims it had been “in discussions” with other search engines, but failed to reach an agreement.
Oddly, it comes just weeks after Reddit updated its robots.txt file, which tells web crawlers if they can or can’t access a website. In this latest update, Reddit effectively banned AI web crawlers from leveraging Reddit content in their models.
Interestingly, the news comes not long after Google began mulling over launching AI-powered search options. It wouldn’t be a free service either, making it the first time that Google has charged for its web search services, if the plans go ahead.
In addition, Google is often accused of having an Internet monopoly, and this development doesn’t exactly promote ‘fair competition’. Naturally, this is particularly interesting considering Google’s pending antitrust trial with the U.S. Government.
Google’s Internet Monopoly
Amid an ongoing antitrust trial with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which began in 2023, this latest development with Reddit may give ample weight to their arguments against Google.
On September 9th, 2024, the DOJ will take Google to trial, on grounds that the digital behemoth has amassed a monopoly over the Internet. In its case, the DOJ alleges that through a series of significant acquisitions and subsequent manipulative self-preferencing actions and sneaky ad revenue practices.
In 2017, the General Court of the European Commission fined Google 2.42 billion EUR . Google had its appeal rejected in 2021.
Furthermore, the DOJ’s case is considered to be one of the most important antitrust cases of the decade. Depending on the outcome, it could signal the beginnings of a broader big tech breakup.
AI Search Engines
Leading artificial intelligence (AI) firm OpenAI just announced that it will begin piloting a new search feature, SearchGPT.
Speculatively, it’s a sign of things to come as AI finds its way into every corner of cyberspace.
One of the greatest aspects of AI in search engines is that it will provide fast, high-quality, and comprehensive search results. But do any of those developments matter if one or two gigantic companies control which information we get to see?
