The Enshittification of Search Continues
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Google is Reddit's Search Engine Now
Forget console wars, we soon might be comparing search engines based on their exclusive access to content online.
The amazing team at 404 Media shared yesterday that Google is now the only search engine that works with Reddit content. Search engines like Bing, Yahoo, Perplexity, and more are no longer able to get data from the website.
Adding "Reddit" to the end of a search online was an open secret to find the best answers for niche and specific questions online. From the reading order of Constantine to the best entry-level luxury watch to collect Reddit had the answers. Now, if you want to search Reddit effectively you have to use Google, who have already tanked their own search engine.
This comes after a $60 million deal was made between the two made earlier this year. CBS News reported something that seems to make a lot more sense now given this news.
Google played down its interest in using Reddit data to train its AI systems, instead emphasizing how it will make it "even easier" for users to access Reddit information, such as product recommendations and travel advice, by funneling it through Google products.
The "Google products" mentioned seems to now be the exclusivity in its search engine.
Potential Ramifications
This deal immediately has me worried. Not just because of the fact Reddit, a site that is among the most visited and searched online, is not walling its access, but also because of what it could mean for other sites.
This could set a precedent for other sites like Hacker News and Pinterest to start searching for the highest bidder to make their content exclusive on another search engine. Eventually other sites might do the same in hopes to thwart the serial scraping of their content for AI models to learn from and make a few bucks in the process. It is just another byproduct of the Enshittification of the web.
The Silver Lining Bullet
I hate to be the internet boogieman or someone to take the air out of the room every time I press send, so I have an answer for this problem. It's actually the answer to several problems regarding the web: decentralization.
Mike Masnick said it best in an article from a few months ago in the wake of the announcement and launch of Google Search AI answers.
[T]he world of decentralized social media could offer an alternative to the world in which all the information we consume is intermediated by a single centralized player, whether it’s a search engine like Google, or a social media service like Meta.
The various decentralized social media systems that have been growing over the past few years offer a very different potential approach: one in which you get to build the experience you want, rather than the one a giant company wants. If you need information, others on the decentralized social network can help you find it or respond to your questions.
It’s a much more social experience, mediated by other people, perhaps on different systems, rather than a single giant company determining what you get to see.
I have been relying less and less on centralized systems like Twitter and Google and instead been using decentralized social media and direct sources to view content I want to see. I follow dozens of sites via RSS check them throughout the day, I also follow users and their curation and recommendations via decentralized means like Mastodon and Bluesky. I also use Threads, which has had its own problems but is embracing federation and open web protocols.
On top of RSS and decentralized social media, I also bookmark sites I like and use a read-it-later service (Readwise Reader) to save articles I want to read or have read and have notes about it.
Between bookmarks, read-it-later apps, and the curation from people I follow online I am more intentional about the content that I consume and it has me avoiding algorithms almost entirely. Instead, I forage online and use other blogs and newsletters to help me find new and interesting things. Is it as easy as an algorithm or a "For You" feed to find content that might interest? Absolutely not, but embracing the journey online when you can allow for new thoughts and ideas to form, which happens in my writing all of the time. Also, the added benefit of not using an algorithm is that I don't always fall prey to echo chambers as often. Just because I liked one 5-minute life hack video doesn't mean it is all I want to see TikTok!
Finally, with Clicked I am doing my part to share the things online that I enjoyed and want others to read or hear. I am giving credit where it is due and linking to that content as much as I can. This is allowing others to find content without them having to rely on algorithms either. I also do this because I want to have an ethical and moral publication where I give credit where it is due and link to that work when possible.
You can do the same too, it just takes a simple blo1g or newsletter and some writing. Stop the growth of walled gardens and start cultivating your own area of the open web.
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Quick Links
A well-made and thoughtful video essay about the future of streaming
Keith Broni
Because of course they would
The developer of the beloved Reddit Apollo (RIP) shared an awesome video on how he created his own keyboard
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
Best part: some people couldn't redeem the gift card because it had been cancelled
Here's a fun video I found when reading about Reddit's news.
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