Safari can't load reddit in new tabs

There was a server side change on the Reddit site about a week ago that injects javascript code in the page loads. Safari, and I believe the Duck Duck Go and Firefox browser, do not allow Javascript code to be injected in background tabs for both Security and Performance reasons. There was no change in your Safari version, OS version, or any setting on your device, it was done by Reddit. You can still access the old reddit site at old.reddit.com where that Javascript code injection is not done on page loads and will be able to open the tabs in the Background.

The issue is being reported heavily on the Reddit site as they are the only ones performing this background injection of Javascript code. I would not expect Safari to relax their Security as Javascript code injection exploits are becoming more common, so we will have to wait and see how Reddit responds.

Chromium based browsers still allow background execution of Javascript code, but that may also change in the future as the background fetch exploits have been published and reported to Google. Firefox, Safari, and I assume Duck Duck Go are not affected by this exploit since they won't allow the code to run in the background. All Chromium based browsers, Opera, Vivaldi, and Arc are vulnerable to this exploit and also means they will still allow those Reddit pages to load in a background tab.

https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/05/google-publishes-exploit-code-threatening-millions-of-chromium-users/

I'm not having any issues opening reddit tabs in the background either on my Mac or iPad.

How do you open the link? Right-click > Open Link in New Tab? Or click the link while pressing the command key?

Try to compare the web address opened in the background tab (the one that doesn't open) with the web address you can copy.

Having a similar issue specifically with Reddit as well. The pages do eventually load, it's just very slow to load. Appears to get stuck by something. This is a recent issue which started happening in the last week or two.

Connie Wisley wrote:

but this issue doesn't appear in Google Chrome, don't know why.

Mac Jim ID explained that in his response:

Chromium based browsers still allow background execution of Javascript code

Same here. I have rebooted, flushed DNS cache, clear history. I have to check Reddit in Brave. No problems, but hassle having to switch browser for one website.

i have the same issue, the images are always distorted, the pages are slowly loaded. i have to refresh the pages very often, but this issue doesn't appear in Google Chrome, don't know why.