Following the recent closure of prospective Reddit rival Digg, which struggled with overwhelming bot activity, Reddit announced on Wednesday its own plans to tackle this persistent issue.
The platform will start applying labels to automated accounts that offer beneficial services to users, akin to the “good bot” distinctions on X. Additionally, accounts identified as potentially being bots will now be prompted to undergo human verification.
Reddit emphasized that this verification process will not be universally applied across the site. It will only be triggered when an account exhibits characteristics suggesting it may not be human, such as unusual activity patterns or specific technical indicators. Failure to complete this verification could lead to account restrictions, according to Reddit.
To detect potential bots, Reddit employs specialized tools that analyze account-specific signals and various factors, including the speed at which an account attempts to create or publish content. Nevertheless, using AI for crafting posts or comments does not violate Reddit’s general policies, although individual community moderators retain the authority to establish their own rules.
For human verification, Reddit plans to utilize external tools such as passkeys from providers like Apple, Google, and YubiKey, alongside other third-party biometric services like Face ID or even Sam Altman’s World ID. In certain countries, government IDs might also be employed. Reddit clarified that this latter option might be mandated in specific regions, including the U.K., Australia, and some U.S. states, due to local age verification regulations, but it is not the company’s preferred approach.
In a Wednesday announcement, Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman stated, “Should human verification be necessary, we will conduct it with a privacy-first approach.” He added, “Our objective is to confirm the presence of a human behind the account, not to identify that individual. The goal is to enhance clarity regarding content on Reddit while upholding the platform’s distinctive anonymity. Users should not be forced to choose between these.”
These new measures are designed to tackle the escalating issue of bot activity across social media and the wider internet. Bots are frequently deployed to manipulate political discourse, disseminate false information, artificially boost popularity, surreptitiously promote products, create fraudulent ad impressions, and for various other purposes. Cloudflare projects that by 2027, bot traffic, encompassing web crawlers and AI agents, will surpass human internet traffic.
Reddit, specifically, has emerged as a frequent target for bots engaged in narrative manipulation, astroturfing for corporate promotion, re-sharing links, posting spam, directing traffic, conducting research, among other activities. Furthermore, given Reddit’s content is licensed for AI training through profitable agreements with AI model developers, there is speculation that bots might even be submitting questions on the platform specifically to generate additional training data, especially in knowledge domains where AI currently has gaps.
Alexis Ohanian, another co-founder of Reddit, has also commented on the associated concept dubbed the “dead internet theory.” This hypothesis posits that bots now outnumber human users online, and that most of the content, interactions, and overall web activity is automated or AI-produced, rather than originating from individuals. With the proliferation of AI agents, this theory appears to be increasingly relevant.
Last year, the company had already declared its intention to implement human verification in response to the rising bot population and the necessity to comply with “evolving regulatory requirements.” However, Reddit acknowledged today that the existing solutions, which Huffman recently elaborated on during the TBPN podcast, are not optimal.
In today’s announcement, Huffman articulated that “The most effective long-term solutions will be decentralized, tailored to individuals, private, and ideally will not necessitate any form of identification.”
In addition to these initiatives, Reddit stated its ongoing commitment to eradicating bots and spam, noting an average of 100,000 account removals daily. The platform will also continue to rely on user reports of suspected bots, with further tooling enhancements planned. Developers managing recognized “good bots” can find information on applying the new “APP” label within the r/redditdev community.