Reddit Communities Go Dark To Protest New API Change

Published on June 16, 2023

Recently, Reddit, one of the most popular social media platforms that allows users to create and join communities, or "subreddits", recently updated their pricing for their APIs for third party applications. The updated pricing may cause many of such applications to be no longer financially sustainable, leading to major backlash among many Reddit users and communities.

Many Reddit communities have decided to go dark for a couple of days in protest and a Reddit post that has been shared among several other communities, explained the following:

"On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.

The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action."

Two days have passed, and while some communities returned to normality and are no longer private, others remained private "indefinitely".

The extent to which the boycott has impacted the company is minimal, claimed by the CEO, Steve Huffman. In a supposed leaked memo, he commented the following: "Like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well".

Sources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/13yh0jf/dont_let_reddit_kill_3rd_party_apps/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2023/06/01/death-by-api-reddit-joins-twitter-in-pricing-out-apps/?sh=6df996e0606d

https://fortune.com/2023/06/14/reddit-blackout-extended-ceo-leaked-memo-blowup-will-pass-moderators/