Autocomplete won't work for entity reference field unless User > Administer Users permission is granted I have an entity reference field (users) on a node in D8, and the autocomplete suggestions won't show unless the User > Administer Users permission is granted to the role.

I'm trying to let event creators select who is presenting a certain topic, but I don't want them to be able to edit users' settings. Any ideas?
The endpoint that provides AJAX entity reference completion (system.entity_autocomplete in system.routing.yml) is configured with with requirements._access: 'TRUE' property. This should make the /entity_reference_autocomplete/%/%/% path accessible to any user. 

As such, check for any module that might be modifying its permissions.