Reddit Sinks 9% on Reports It May Cut Off Google’s AI Data Access
Publishers say AI summaries are draining traffic, and some are weighing stronger blocks that could limit Google search visibility, officials said.
- On Wednesday, Reddit shares fell 9% following reports the company is considering blocking Google from using its platform data to train artificial intelligence models as their $60 million annual licensing agreement nears renewal.
- Declining referral traffic from Google's AI Overviews prompted the review, as publishers increasingly fear AI summaries cannibalize their audience; Reddit CEO Steve Huffman previously called the platform "fuel" for AI.
- Investors responded sharply to the potential fallout, with Reddit stock dropping 26% year-to-date, while the company and search giant negotiate renewal of their 2024 data-licensing deal worth $60 million annually.
- Google maintains its AI features send "billions of clicks to the web every week," while publishers weigh using technical tags like "nosnippet" to restrict unauthorized data scraping despite risking reduced search visibility.
- This conflict reflects a growing industry-wide struggle over AI usage of proprietary content; regulators in Britain's Competition and Markets Authority recently ordered Google to allow publishers to opt out of AI features without losing traditional search rankings.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Why Reddit Stock Is Dropping: $3.2 Billion Wiped Off Market Value as Shares Fall 9%
Reddit lost around $3.2 billion in market value after its shares fell about 9% on Wednesday, following reports that the social media platform is reconsidering whether Google should continue accessing Reddit's vast collection of discussions to train artificial intelligence models. The decline came after The Wall Street Journal reported that Reddit executives had internally discussed whether renewing the company's AI licensing agreement with Googl…
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman on LLMs, fighting the bots, and why it’s good that you can’t get famous on Reddit
Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman joins Mixed Signals during the platform’s 21st birthday to talk about what it means to be the internet’s anti-social media hub. Max and Ben ask Steve how Reddit thinks about its partnerships, why the company is suing Anthropic, and why it’s a good thing that you can’t get rich from being a prolific Reddit user.— Max Tani and Ben Smith
Search traffic has declined so much that some publishers are considering opting out of Google entirely
Back in 2024, Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, coined the term “Google Zero,” which he defined as “that moment when Google Search simply stops sending traffic outside of its search engine to third-party websites.” It increasingly feels as if that moment has arrived, and some publishers appear to be heading toward the decision that the way to deal with it is to cut Google off entirely. The problem, The Wall Street Journal reports, comes…
Reddit stock drops 9% as Google AI content deal nears expiration
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 38% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
