Petteri Pyyny
11 May 2026 15:50
Generally speaking, ad-funded websites want as many visitors as possible to their pages.
But after a certain scale, some sites want to know much more about their visitors, and merely visiting the site itself is no longer enough.
The reason for this is, of course, money, as "large enough" sites can effectively utilize additional information about their readers for better-targeted ads - and higher ad revenue. The best-known examples are likely Meta's services, which strongly push visitors to log in or download an app instead of just a quick visit.
Now, the internet's largest discussion forum, Reddit, appears to be taking steps in the same direction.
For example, technology publications Ars Technica and Futurism both recently noticed that Reddit no longer allows all users to access its websites.
The block affects some mobile users who have landed on a Reddit page using their browser. A notification appears stating that to view the content, the official Reddit mobile app must be installed on the phone.
Ars Technica contacted Reddit and asked what was going on. The company confirmed the matter and stated that it has started forcing some mobile users to switch to using the Reddit app. According to Reddit, the block screen is only shown to users who regularly visit Reddit's pages via a mobile browser without being logged into Reddit.
The company justifies the "experiment" by stating that the Reddit app offers a better user experience than the Reddit website operating in a mobile browser.
Because Reddit's core users are very vocal online users, Reddit's own discussion areas have been filled with angry comments regarding the change. For example, in the /r/enshittification section, the change has been heavily criticized.