Google's now the only search engine that will show new Reddit posts in search results and it's somewhat AI's fault

SoftwareAIGoogle’s now the only search engine that will show new Reddit posts in search results and it’s somewhat AI’s faultWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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Put “Google” and “Reddit” in the same sentence and you’re bound to get a cacophony of sighs from those in the online publishing biz. Well, we might now hear more sighs from the average internet user, too, as it looks like Google’s the only search engine that can currently scrape Reddit to put new posts in its search results.

But Google’s still managing to display new Reddit results in search results, which means it’s somehow able to access Reddit’s information despite the robots.txt disallow.

If we start to wonder whether the reason behind all this is to do withGoogle partnering with Reddit—a partnership that gives Google sole access to Reddit’s site content for AI training—we have the following reassurance.

Tim Rathschmidt, a spokesperson for Reddit, toldThe Verge"This is not at all related to our recent partnership with Google," continuing, “We have been in discussions with multiple search engines. We have been unable to reach agreements with all of them, since some are unable or unwilling to make enforceable promises regarding their use of Reddit content, including their use for AI.”

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Google headquarters is seen in Mountain View, California, United States on September 26, 2022.

However, to my ears, this makes it sound like this issue is onlyindirectlybecause of Reddit’s partnership with Google. If the partnership contract gives Google exclusive rights to Reddit’s data for AI training, then it would make sense that Reddit wouldn’t allow other search engines to scrape the website if it’s “unable to reach agreements.”

If anything, this explanation pushes things back a rung and makes me think there’s just one more mark against the original Google-Reddit partnership. This mark being that Reddit seemingly now can’t allow other search engines to scrape their site unless they’re willing to make “enforceable” promises about their use of Reddit content for AI. (Your guess is as good as mine on what “enforceable” means, here.)

Epic Games CEOTim Sweeney saysit’s “part of a disconcerting acceleration of monopolies expanding to further block competition and take from users.”

There’s beenlots of talkin publishing land about how devastating this Reddit-boosting change has been or could be for some smaller publications and independent sites, but there hasn’t been much fuss from end-users. That might be because Google’s right and people do want Reddit high up in their search results.

Think of it this way: If Google’s right and end-users reallydocare so much about Reddit results in their searches, then it seems Google now has exclusive search engine access to one of the things its end-users most care about. Why would anyone go elsewhere?

None of this is even to mention the risks of the partnership already in place which allows Google exclusive access to Reddit for AI training, with Reddit being arguably one of the world’s biggest digital public squares. Regarding this, one can’t help but wonder what the US, UK, and EU governmental bodies who have justagreed to work to prevent monopoly in the AI industrymake of it.

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