Shares of Reddit fell 8 per cent on Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the social media platform had discussed restricting Google’s access to its content for artificial intelligence training.

The decline pushed Reddit’s year-to-date losses to roughly 25 per cent.

Reddit and Google reached an agreement in 2024 allowing the search giant to use Reddit content to train its AI models.

However, Reddit is now reassessing the benefits of the deal as Google’s AI-generated search summaries increasingly reduce traffic directed to websites from search results pages, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The $60 million-a-year agreement is nearing its end, with Reddit and Google reportedly in discussions over a potential renewal, according to the report.

A Reddit spokesperson told CNBC that the company is handling the negotiations “just like any business should, by focusing on doing what’s best for Reddit.”

“A lot has changed since those first deals were signed, but our goals are the same: making sure any partnerships drive our business and recognize the unique value of Reddit’s data,” the statement read. “There is a wide range of ways to do that; those are all things we’ll discuss at the negotiating table.”

This downward trend in search traffic extends across multiple major outlets. According to the Journal, Politico saw a 23% per cent drop in Google visits, CNN experienced a roughly 25 per cent decline, and Business Insider suffered a staggering loss of more than 85 per cent between June 2025 and 2026.

These declines are just one piece of a larger shake-up, as a growing number of media and publishing companies reassess their ties to the biggest AI players. Faced with shrinking search referrals, several firms have turned to litigation, aiming to defend their intellectual property.