So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Reddit requires login for old.reddit.com, citing safety through reduced scraping of plain HTML.
Reddit now requires a login to use old.reddit.com, claiming the logged-out experience 'is a significant source of abusive scraping and automated traffic.' The author argues this is a pretext to limit data access for AI training. Old Reddit loads ~1MB with 33 requests in ~2s; New Reddit loads ~5x more data with 112 requests in ~3s. New Reddit requires JavaScript, sends heartbeats on scroll/mouse moves, and loads only 25 comments initially versus 200 on Old Reddit. The author believes Reddit could have simply deprecated the old interface instead of framing the change as a safety measure.
What commenters are saying
Commenters largely agree the change is about limiting scraping to protect Reddit's AI licensing deals with OpenAI and Google. Several note old.reddit.com still works without login for some, but the global requirement is coming. One commenter argues keeping an old interface generates maintenance costs and vulnerabilities, but others counter that plain HTML has no inherent vulnerabilities. Multiple users say they will stop using Reddit if old.reddit.com disappears, citing the new interface's dark patterns and bloat. A few note scrapers are a genuine problem for any site.