Reddit is currently responding to widespread protests about API alterations, but doing nothing at all. Most third-party apps that use Reddit’s services are due to shut down soon as a result of changes to how Reddit charges to use its API. But protestors are determined to make Reddit feel the pain.
APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, allow two different software programs to communicate with each other. Without them, third-party services that use Reddit’s data to function can’t exist. Users and developers get access to a service’s information without using that service itself. However, a platform with over 50 million daily users can charge a pretty penny for its mountains of data. Although until recently, it hadn’t planned to charge anything.
Reddit Wants to Monetize Its Popularity
Reddit’s new changes to its API terms will mean developers will have to pay for access on a per-request basis. The social media giant claims that its previously free API model was unsustainable. Users that accessed Reddit services through third-party apps were not seeing the ads that paid for the upkeep of the main service.
Additionally, expectations in the industry have shifted. In March, Elon Musk’s Twitter recently announced changes to its API policy, charging as much as $42,000 a monthly “low-cost enterprise plan.”
Many industry watchers noted how, contrary to popular sentiment, the sky did not immediately fall in on Musk’s social media empire. It appears as though Reddit has been taking notes and learning.
The end result is that many smaller developers who built their apps on the assumption that Reddit’s API would remain free or low-cost forever are now at serious risk of shutting down.
Businesses Are “Taking Our Data for Free,” Says CEO
In protest, thousands of subreddits staged a 48-hour blackout known as Reddark. Nearly 8,000 subreddits, including popular ones like r/food and r/gaming, went private since June 12.
Despite the planned end on June 14, over 6,000 subreddits have continued the blackout. Hundreds of volunteer moderators have said they will maintain the protest indefinitely.
In response, it appears Reddit may have been curating people’s feeds to lower the visibility of the protest. Prominent crypto journalist Michael del Castillo posted on Twitter:
“I’m uninstalling Reddit as a direct result of their decision to stop showing me my own feeds which happen to be sharing protest content, in lieu of feeds that aren’t protesting. @arcalinea and @fiatjaf is anyone building a Reddit clone on the AT Protocol or Nostr?”
However, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has said he is determined to end the protests and give community members more power to vote out moderators using subreddits for protest. Currently, moderators can be removed by other higher-ranking moderators or by Reddit itself due to rule violations or inactivity.
In an interview with The Verge, Huffman pushed back forcefully against calls to pause the API price increase. “What’s not happening is us continuing to subsidize businesses built on taking our data for free. That’s not changing.”
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