Reddit announced in its third-quarter earnings on Thursday that it is transitioning to a primarily “logged-in experience.” This strategic shift aims to protect its data from AI scraping for lucrative licensing deals and to boost revenue, as search traffic referrals dropped by over 1 million per week in October and U.S. daily active users declined 2% year-over-year to 50.7 million.

Despite user declines, Reddit's Q3 revenue rose 53% year-over-year to $895 million, exceeding expectations, with net income up 74% to $283 million. Advertising revenue grew 54% to $847 million, while non-advertising revenue, including AI data-licensing, increased 35% to $48 million. The company plans to run tests in select markets outside the U.S. in Q4, with a global rollout timeline yet to be determined.