A hot potato: Reddit will be introducing something that few users are likely to want later this year: paywalls. CEO Steve Huffman has confirmed that the platform will be introducing the ability for some Redditors to create content that only paid members can see, though it won't apply to any subreddits currently available. Huffman revealed plans for the paid content model in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) following the company's quarterly earnings report. He said it was currently a "work in progress" but would be one of the "new, key features" that Reddit plans to introduce sometime this year.Huffman said in 2024 that the company was looking into exclusive content or private, hidden areas that were locked behind a paywall.The paid-for content would only apply to certain new subreddit types and not any existing ones, so it seems that your favorite subreddits aren't suddenly going to require a bank account to access them.It's certainly a controversial area that could present several problems, especially when it comes to moderators and whether they will be paid and how much for what is currently a voluntary position.AM(A)A Video: Reddit's Q4 2024 Earningsbyu/rddt_IR inRDDTArs Technica notes that Reddit has had paid-for features before, such as r/Lounge, an exclusive subreddit for Reddit Premium subscribers. The company also pays some users for posting via the Reddit Contributor Program. // Related StoriesHuffman also mentioned other potential monetization features for Reddit. One of these is to allow users to conduct financial transactions from within the platform itself, rather than using a third-party payments system like PayPal or Venmo. It could allow users to, among other things, purchase items without leaving Reddit, though Huffman admitted it could be a while before the idea becomes a working feature.The plan sounds like it's been inspired by Chinese social media platform Weibo, which uses its own integrated payment system, Weibo Pay, to facilitate payments within the app. These can be used for tipping content creators, purchasing goods, donating to causes, and paying for premium services.Reddit has been embracing several money-making efforts since it went public early last year. These include more ads, especially in the first-party app, and it has tested placing ads in comments. It has also been sharing user data with other companies, including a $60 million-per-year deal with Google for the tech giant to train its AI models. It also partnered with OpenAI to put users' posts in ChatGPT.Reddit needs to balance its monetization efforts against user blowback. In 2023, over 8,500 subreddits went dark in protest against the platform's decision to update its API, which requires some third-party app developers to pay millions of dollars to continue accessing the site.