Reddit will continue blocking Microsoft and other search engines and AI models from crawling its content using robots.txt – unless they strike a content licensing deal. That’s what Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said in a new interview.
Why Reddit is blocking search engines. Noting it’s been “a real pain in the ass to block these companies,” here’s what else Huffman told technology news site The Verge:
Freeware. Yes, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman actually called web content “freeware,” saying anybody can copy and use it:
Google not blocked. Meanwhile, Reddit didn’t block Google. That’s because Google pays Reddit $60 million a year. That content licensing deal was announced in February.
Microsoft statement. Following the news about Reddit blocking search engines, a Microsoft spokesperson told Search Engine Land:
Why we care. Reddit is in a powerful position, having a licensing deal with Google – not to mention the insane amount of organic visibility and traffic it’s getting due to its prominence in Google Search results. However, other content producers and publishers likely will need whatever visibility and traffic they can get from AI search and answer engines by incorporating generative engine optimization (GEO) strategies.