Reddit CEO Says Chatbots Are Not a Traffic Driver

Why It Matters

The comments signal that AI chatbots may not boost traffic for community‑driven sites, while Reddit's robust growth and data licensing deals make it a valuable partner for AI developers and a potential challenger in the search ecosystem.

Summary

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told analysts that AI chatbots are not a major traffic driver for the platform, with Google search and direct visits still accounting for roughly half of its traffic each. The company posted a strong Q3 2025, reporting $585 million in revenue, a 68% year‑on‑year increase, and 116 million daily active users and 444 million weekly active users, up 20% YoY. Reddit has locked down its data, licensing it to OpenAI while maintaining a partnership with Google, and is embroiled in legal disputes with Anthropic and Perplexity. It is also expanding AI‑powered search, which now handles about 20% of search volume, with 75 million users searching weekly, and testing a streamlined onboarding flow to boost early engagement.