Bitrabo Editorial
Several sub-communities on Reddit, including prominent cryptocurrency-related subreddits, have decided to make their content private for a period of 48 hours. This protest is in response to new company policies that limit the usage of third-party applications on the platform.
The move aims to express dissent and raise awareness about the perceived limitations imposed by these policies. As a way of expressing their dissatisfaction, a large number of subreddits including popular ones like r/gaming, r/aww, r/Music, r/todayilearned, and r/pics have decided to go offline for a while.
Popular crypto-focused communities such as r/Bitcoin, r/CryptoCurrency, and r/cardano have also joined in, making the protest total 3,489 subreddits. These communities have tens of millions of members.
Reasons Behind the Reddit Protest
Many communities have expressed their concerns regarding the social media platform’s decision to develop native moderator tools, as it directly affects the community’s ability to utilize third-party tools that are widely relied upon for content moderation and interactions.
In April, the company announced its intention to make changes to the Reddit Data application programming interface (API). This API has existed for seven years and serves as a platform for developers to create tools and utilities that facilitate activities such as moderation and other functions. The proposed modifications aim to redefine how users engage with the Reddit Data API.
In response to this upcoming change, many communities have chosen to either go private or switch to read-only mode from June 12 to June 14 as a form of protest.
The planned changes will result in significant fees for “premium access,” which could have a detrimental impact on popular third-party applications like Apollo.
Apollo offers users a customizable interface for browsing the site. According to Christian Selig, the developer of Apollo, these new fees imposed by Reddit would require the app to charge approximately $5 (£4) per user per month just to cover the expenses.
Apps like Apollo, Reddit is Fun, Sync, and ReddPlanet were initially created as alternatives for users to access the social media platform on their mobile devices. These third-party apps were established before the platform launched its official mobile app in 2016.
As part of its preparations for an initial public offering (IPO), the platform has introduced a new policy requiring developers to pay $12,000 for every 50 million API requests. For the developer of Apollo, this means an estimated annual cost of $20 million to utilize Reddit’s APIs.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has supported the platform’s decision and emphasized the importance of being a “self-sustaining business.” He acknowledged the need for the platform to establish a sustainable financial model that ensures its long-term viability and growth. He also mentioned that the platform respects the decision of communities to take action to highlight things they need, including going private when necessary.
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