Reddit responds to API price increase protests from moderators
It has been reported that Reddit moderators who joined the protests against the company’s API pricing change have been removed from their positions. Those who changed their subreddit’s label to NSFW, indicating the allowance of sexual content, were among those suspended. The protests began on June 12, with many Reddit communities going private to express their dissatisfaction with the planned price increases for API requests, which resulted in several third-party apps ceasing operations from June 30.
It is believed that the Moderators were suspended for making their community NSFW. Usually, when a subreddit is marked as NSFW, Reddit adds an age warning before allowing desktop users to access it and restricts access to users logged in on mobile devices. Additionally, and most importantly, Reddit does not serve ads on these pages for the reasons stated above. So by changing the identifier of their community, Moderators basically made it so that the company would not be able to monetize these spaces.
Some Moderators decided to go NSFW on June 15th, the same day some subreddits decided to remain private indefinitely. Among them were popular communities such as r/MildlyInteresting, r/interestingasfuck and r/TIHI (Thanks I Hate It).
“Moderators who falsely flag a community as NSFW violate both our content policy and the Moderator Code of Conduct,” Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt told The Verge.
Reddit’s new API pricing
In April, Reddit announced changes to its API model to limit the number of API requests made by a third-party client. It also updated the pricing terms for API requests. The move was initially seen as a way for the company to pay developers who use its AI platforms to take Reddit content to answer user questions.
Two weeks ago, Christian Selig, the developer of Apollo, a third-party iOS app for Reddit, shared a message in which he revealed that the platform charges about $12,000 for 50 million requests. Selig also explained that with about 7 billion API requests (Apollo’s stats from the previous month), it would have to pay Reddit $1.7 million a month, or $20 million a year, just to keep operating.
Many third-party apps believe they are in a similar situation. The popular Android-based app Reddit Is Fun has also announced that the app will stop working from June 30. Apollo and Naharwal, another third-party app, have also given similar timelines before these apps are taken offline.
