The Reddit community\u2019s mass protest over the company\u2019s controversial API changes has started. Thousands of subreddits have \u201cgone dark,\u201d setting their communities private and making their content inaccessible to anyone not already subscribed.<\/p>\n
Some of the site\u2019s most popular subreddits, including r\/Music, r\/funny, r\/aww and r\/todayilearned \u2014 each of which has millions of followers \u2014 have joined the effort, along with thousands of other communities. The movement has grown significantly in the last few days following CEO Steve Huffman\u2019s AMA with users in which he defended<\/ins><\/a> the new policies, which will result in popular third-party apps like RIF and Apollo shutting down<\/ins><\/a> for good.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As of last week<\/ins><\/a>, the number of participating subreddits was just over 3,000. But by Monday morning, the number had climbed to more than 6,200 communities, according to a Twitch stream<\/ins><\/a> tracking the protest. With the blackout, participating subreddits have posted brief messages alerting users that they are protesting the company\u2019s planned API changes. Most have committed to a 48-hour blackout, but at least 60 subreddits<\/ins><\/a> say they plan to protest \u201cindefinitely\u201d until the company walks back its changes. Many are also urging users not to browse Reddit at all. Some have also set up Discord servers to encourage subscribers to stay off of Reddit.<\/p>\n The backlash against the company\u2019s new API policy kicked off after Christian Selig, the developer behind Reddit client app Apollo, shared that Reddit\u2019s new pricing would cost him as much as $20 million<\/ins><\/a> a year to keep his app going. The company further angered Apollo fans by claiming<\/ins><\/a> that Selig had \u201cthreatened\u201d the company, which the developer promptly refuted with an audio clip of a phone call with a Reddit employee. Huffman then doubled down on the criticism in his AMA last week.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the subreddit blackout begins, I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to the Reddit community and everyone standing up,\u201d Selig wrote in a post<\/ins><\/a> on Twitter. \u201cLet’s hope Reddit listens.\u201d<\/p>\n Reddit\u2019s users aren\u2019t only upset about the company\u2019s treatment of Selig and Apollo, though, They are also frustrated with losing moderation and accessibility<\/ins><\/a> features only available via third-party apps. In a message to users, moderators of r\/blind said the native Reddit app was so lacking in accessibility that a sighted user had to switch the subreddit private.<\/p>\n If Reddit was a restaurant third party apps are franchises. We can get a burger from Reddit directly or from a franchise. The official Reddit location is at the top of a cliff. Disabled people can’t get there. Reddit is charging franchise fees so high nobody else can afford to offer burgers. We, with thousands of other subreddits, have gone dark for 48 hours. We will be back on June 14. Our Discord server remains open. Thank you for understanding; app so bad, vision required to go dark<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Reddit\u2019s moderators \u2014 who are often quick to point out that they are unpaid volunteers \u2014 shared similar. \u201cIn many cases these apps offer superior mod tools, customization, streamlined interfaces, and other quality of life improvements that the official app does not offer,\u201d moderators wrote in an open letter<\/ins><\/a>. \u201cThe potential loss of these services due to the pricing change would significantly impact our ability to moderate efficiently, thus negatively affecting the experience for users in our communities and for us as mods and users ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, it’s unclear whether the protest will be able to influence Reddit’s leaders. The company didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment, but has previously defended the new API policy, citing<\/ins><\/a> the rise of generative AI companies taking advantage of its data. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to be profit-driven until profits arrive,\u201d Huffman said last week in his AMA.<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/reddit-sees-more-than-6000-communities-go-dark-in-protest-over-api-changes-095311637.html?src=rss
The Reddit community\u2019s mass protest over the company\u2019s controversial API changes has started. Thousands of subreddits have \u201cgone dark,\u201d setting their communities private and making their content inaccessible to anyone not already subscribed. Some of the site\u2019s most popular subreddits, … Continue reading \n
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\nSource: Engadget – Reddit sees more than 6,000 communities ‘go dark’ in protest over API changes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"