The ‘front page’ of the Internet may go behind a paywall later this year, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said during a videotaped Ask Me Anything (AMA) session.

There is no timeline behind the move but Huffman said plans for paid content are a “work in progress” and it is one of the “new, key features” that the platform has pegged for 2025.

Having a paywall won’t shut out users from accessing their favourite subreddits. In a 2024 earnings call, Huffman said that the paywalls would only apply to new subreddits, not existing ones already popular with users.

“I think the existing altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” he said last year. “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.”

The paywalled communities are expected to be specific subreddits requiring subscriptions, turning them into premium spaces that help creators monetise their content.

Beyond paywall, Huffman said the company plans to introduce a new AI feature on the platform this year which would summarise search results as well as features that would lay the groundwork for an eventual Reddit marketplace. It will help Reddit diversify its revenue streams, capitalising on its vast user-generated content in line with a similar trend followed by platforms like X and Discord to incentivise content creation.

For many teenagers, Reddit has become the source of news and gossip, buoyed by a stream of comments.