Don't use Google? Then forget about getting useful Reddit posts in your search results

If you don't use Google as your search engine, then you won't get the full benefit of the experience of Redditors when it comes to search results.

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Google just locked down its dominant search engine position a bit more tightly (Image Credit: Google)

This is due to a new agreement between Google and Reddit, and it means that Bing, and other search rivals, will no longer get to plug into Reddit and flag up useful posts on the platform as answers to search queries - or at least not recent posts. Only older content (like 2+ years old, from what we can tell via Bing) will be surfaced from Reddit when using any search engine save for Google, according to a report from The Verge.

It's an important move, because Reddit is a useful source of tips and advice, plus, shall we say, lively debate (mind you - where on the web isn't, these days, when it comes to the latter).

But Reddit being a hive of ideas, opinions and debate is partly what's motivated this agreement, as the site is getting understandably defensive about AIs scraping its content and using it as part of replies to user requests.

Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt explained to The Verge:

"This is not at all related to our recent partnership with Google. 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."

So, Reddit has reached an understanding with Google - doubtless helped by the previous agreement between the two to allow the Gemini AI to be trained on Reddit data - but not anyone else in the search engine world by all accounts.

If Microsoft wants to pay up, then Bing (and Bing Chat - sorry, Copilot, it's still called that, right?) will be able to trawl through and use recent Reddit posts, but that seems an unlikely prospect.

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