Reddit Shares Fall 29% as Google AI Search Cuts Referrals

Nov 1, 2026
Reddit shares closed down about 29% after CEO Steve Huffman said Google's AI Mode is not sending users to the site, and Reddit plans to require sign-ins.

Reddit shares closed down about 29% on Friday at $91.73 after the company reported that search referral traffic fell meaningfully in the past quarter as Google answers more queries with AI Mode and AI Overviews, Yahoo Finance reports.

"People still want Reddit. It is just Google is not sending them to Reddit the way they used to," co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman said on the company's earnings call this week. "Google is crawling us as hard as ever, so the demand hasn't changed from their point of view either," he added. "The reality is the AI Mode does not drive traffic. Not for us, and not to anybody as far as I know."

Reddit said it is not counting on Google traffic returning and plans to require all users to create Reddit accounts and sign in to access the site. "For AI Overviews and traffic, look, we don't control Google. We only control Reddit," the company said on the call.

The sell-off came the day after Alphabet lost a record amount of market value following a slowdown in its core search advertising business, which Yahoo Finance links in part to the lower profitability of AI ads.

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