Reddit Public Access Network (RPAN)

The Reddit Public Access Network, or RPAN, was a live-streaming service Reddit launched in 2019, modelled on the idea of public-access television: ordinary users could broadcast their own live video streams to dedicated streaming communities, and viewers could react and comment in real time. RPAN was discontinued on 15 November 2022.

RPAN matters as part of Reddit's record of experimenting with formats beyond its core link-and-comment model, and of retiring those experiments when they did not fit. Its shutdown, alongside the later closure of the audio product Reddit Talk, illustrates how the platform's feature set, and therefore the kinds of content and governance challenges it faces, has shifted over time. For an archive of platform history, RPAN is a concrete example of a once-promoted feature that was wound down, a reminder that the surfaces where moderation and policy apply are not fixed but rise and fall with the company's strategy.