How Google helped kill off RSS, one product at a time
A blog post from openrss.org, originally published in 2023 and now near the top of Hacker News again, argues that Google has followed an embrace, extend and extinguish pattern with the RSS protocol: build a product around RSS to win users, then remove or degrade that support once the userbase is locked in. The essay lists six episodes. Early versions of Chromium shipped a built-in RSS button in the address bar that let users subscribe to any page's feed with one click; it disappeared with no announcement and no reason given. In 2007 Google bought FeedBurner, a service that let site owners monetize RSS feeds by replacing them with Google-controlled versions carrying ads, affiliate links and tracking; Google shut down FeedBurner's APIs in October 2012, blocking third-party integrations, then in July 2022 stripped out most of FeedBurner's remaining infrastructure, including email subscriptions, breaking the feed URLs many users had relied on. Google Reader, launched in 2005 as a web-based feed reader, was killed in 2013; Google's official reason was that "while the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined," but an engineer who worked at Google at the time said "it felt like the entire time I was on the project, various people were trying to kill it." The author argues that Google Reader's shutdown, more than any single other event, is what pushed many users to abandon RSS altogether rather than switch to an alternative reader. Google Alerts gained an RSS delivery option in October 2008 and lost it in July 2013, leaving email as the only way to receive alerts, before Google reinstated RSS support after user backlash; by then, the essay says, much of the RSS user base had already left following the Google Reader shutdown. A Chrome extension that showed an RSS icon in the address bar when a page had a feed was removed and then, after backlash, reinstated within a week, with Google saying the removal was a mistake. Google News, launched in 2002 with support for adding RSS feed URLs, deprecated that support and then shut it down entirely in December 2017, forcing users to hunt for alternative feed links while Google's own proprietary News links kept working. The most recent episode cited is from May 2021, when Google said it was working on a Chrome update to bring RSS support back; the essay notes there has been no word on an official launch since. The author concludes that Google's pattern of building around RSS and then withdrawing support undermines confidence in RSS as reliable, open infrastructure, and calls on Google to maintain any RSS integration it ships rather than treat it as disposable.
Key facts
- Chrome originally shipped a one-click RSS subscribe button in the address bar that was removed with no announcement or explanation.
- Google bought FeedBurner in 2007, cut its APIs in October 2012, then gutted its remaining infrastructure, including email subscriptions, in July 2022.
- Google Reader (2005-2013) was killed despite what an ex-Google engineer described as sustained internal pressure to shut it down; the official reason cited declining usage.
- Google Alerts lost RSS delivery in July 2013, leaving only email, and got it back after user backlash, by which point much of the RSS audience had already left.
- Google News dropped RSS support after 2002 and shut it down entirely in December 2017, while a Chrome RSS revival announced in May 2021 has never shipped, per the essay.
Why it matters
The essay's argument is not about any single shutdown but about a repeated pattern across a decade and a half: a Chrome button, FeedBurner, Google Reader, Google Alerts, a browser extension, and Google News all followed the same arc of adoption, lock-in, then withdrawal. Read together, the author says, the pattern looks less like unrelated product decisions and more like a company treating an open, interoperable protocol as a growth tool to be discarded once it has served its purpose, which matters for anyone relying on open web standards rather than a single vendor's product.
Who it affects
It affects website publishers who once relied on FeedBurner to distribute and monetize feeds, ordinary users who used Google Reader, Google Alerts or Google News to follow RSS feeds, and, more broadly, anyone who depends on the open RSS ecosystem remaining usable rather than being absorbed and then abandoned by a dominant platform.
How to use it
There is no product to use here; the piece is a retrospective argument, not a tool or service. Readers who still rely on RSS are pointed toward maintaining feed readers and infrastructure independent of Google, given the essay's account of how many Google-run alternatives were later withdrawn.
How solid is it
The essay backs each claim with a specific, dated episode (FeedBurner's 2012 API shutdown and 2022 infrastructure cuts, Google Reader's 2013 closure, Google Alerts' 2013 RSS removal, Google News' 2017 shutdown), and quotes Google's own stated reason for killing Google Reader alongside a contradicting account from an unnamed Google engineer. It does not, however, supply usage statistics or figures quantifying how far RSS adoption actually fell, nor does it name the quoted engineer or the article's own author.
Risks and caveats
The piece is an opinion essay reposted from 2023 rather than fresh reporting, and its central claims rest on the author's framing of Google's motives; the anonymous engineer's account of internal pressure to kill Google Reader is a single secondhand quote, not documented evidence. The essay does not confirm whether the RSS support Google said in May 2021 it was building for Chrome ever shipped, only that no announcement followed.
“it felt like the entire time I was on the project, various people were trying to kill it”
— an engineer who worked at Google at the time, on Google Reader