Reddit pauses its paywall plans

Reddit is pausing its plans to let people make subreddits with content behind a paywall, CEO Steve Huffman said as part of Thursday’s earnings. The company is making the change as part of a shift in how it’s prioritizing its resources.

Huffman said last year that the company was looking into a way for users to make subreddits with “exclusive content or private areas,” and he hinted at the possibility of those subreddits having a paywall. Earlier this year, he said the feature was set to arrive in 2025.

But now, “to stay focused on what matters most, we’re shifting resources away from a few areas, such as work on the user economy,” Huffman (who goes by spez on Reddit) said on in a post. “This includes what some have referred to as paid subreddits. It’s still an opportunity we believe in, but right now, we’re all-in on strengthening our core product, making Reddit the go-to place for search, and accelerating international growth.”

In another post, he added that the team working on the user economy will join “our efforts” to improve Reddit’s core app, including working on things like onboarding and personalization. “That gets at our most important need today, which is logged-in core user growth.”