WSJ: Reddit, Politico and Other Publishers Weigh Cutting Google's AI Access as Traffic Craters

The Wall Street Journal reports Reddit, Politico and other publishers are weighing whether to pull Google's access to their content for AI training and AI Overviews as referral traffic collapses. Reddit signed a $60M/year data deal with Google in 2024 that is now up for renegotiation. The pushback follows Cloudflare data showing publisher traffic down roughly 40% in a year and matches an earlier NYT investigation into AI-driven traffic loss.