Reddit could soon put some subreddits behind a paywall
One of the appealing things about Reddit is the fact that it is essentially free to use. There are some features that require real money, but it’s completely optional. That could change in the future, though, as Reddit CEO Steve Huffman suggested that in the future, some subreddits could be placed behind a paywall.
This was revealed during the company’s second earnings call. According to Huffman, the company is looking into alternative forms of revenue generation outside of advertising. One of those potential avenues could be subreddits placed behind a paywall. This could essentially mean that in order to access these subreddits, users would have to pay a subscription fee.
It’s too early to tell how this will work. Will there be a single subscription that grants access to all paid content? Or will individual subreddits get to choose and dictate how much they will charge for access to their content?
According to Huffman, “I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has. But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”
In any case, we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out. It is possible that the company could walk back on their plans, but only time will tell.