Digg Reboot Launches Early-Access Community With $5 Entry Fee

The long-anticipated reboot of Digg has opened its early-access community, named “Groundbreakers,” to users who signed up following last month’s announcement of Digg’s relaunch under the leadership of original founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Participants will receive updates, view design mockups, and test experimental features as the new version of Digg takes shape.

The Groundbreakers community is currently being hosted on Circle, a web-based platform used by creators to run online groups. The rollout wasn’t without hiccups: users reported delays and minor technical issues during the launch. Despite this, the platform has around 3,000 current users – if not more – as of writing, although the exact numbers aren’t clear and it’s unknown if additional “waves” of access will be granted in the future ahead of a full release.

Rose has also confirmed that they plan to include AI integration under the name Digg Intelligence, although like many features on the platform, the specifics aren’t widely known as of yet.

Entry to the Groundbreakers group requires a one-time $5 payment, which Digg says is intended to discourage bots rather than generate revenue. According to the company, funds raised through the initiative will be donated to a nonprofit organization selected by members of the new community.

While full details about the direction of the rebooted Digg remain under wraps due to the early-access version being relatively “closed” for now, this early-access phase provides an initial look at the platform’s community-first approach. Rose and Ohanian have not shared a firm timeline for the public launch, but the Groundbreakers program marks a concrete step toward redefining the once-popular social news aggregator by showing that progress is clearly being made.