Subreddits Aim to Continue API Demonstrations Indefinitely
The moderators of well-known Reddit communities have announced their intention to continue their blackout protests for an indefinite period. Initially, several subreddits had planned to participate in the demonstrations against the company’s API changes only from Monday to Wednesday of this week. However, the decision to extend the protests came after CEO Steve Huffman allegedly sent a memo to staff expressing his belief that Reddit would overcome the situation, as previous controversies had passed. In response to Huffman’s stance, a user wrote, “They should be prepared to face the consequences of their actions.”
Moderators from high-traffic subreddits including r/awww, r/music, r/videos, r/futurology, r/apple, and r/NBA (among many others) committed to an open-ended protest. The blackout comes as Reddit took a page from Elon Musk’s Twitter playbook and raised API prices to astronomical levels ahead of a planned IPO. The move effectively kills all third-party Reddit clients — including the popular Apollo iOS app, leaving Reddit’s own app as the only option for users. In a moderator thread promoting the plugin (spotted by The Verge), u/SpicyThunder335 described the Reddit app as “broadly poor quality, not [available], and very difficult to use for moderation.”
Volunteer mods responded enthusiastically to the proposed extension. For example, u/britinsb commented: “48 hours was just a ‘proof of concept’. For [Huffman] to be so dismissive of the coordinated efforts of over 20,000 mods and 10,000 subreddits just shows how bad he is. Now for the real pain.”
Meanwhile, u/strolls suggested more drastic measures. “I’ve been thinking that maybe we should stop moderating – only remove NSFW images, but allow spammers and shitposters to turn Reddit into a trash can.” When another user pointed out that Reddit could use this as an excuse to remove these mods and replace them with laws, the now-deleted user responded: “Then let them do it honestly. They have about 30,000 mods protesting right now who have been doing free work for them for decades these subreddits as viable. It’s not that simple and will only further affect the site’s image in potential IPO attempts. Twitter screwed up with its paid staff and dropped to a third of its pre-purchase value. Reddit can learn too.”
In the same thread, u/SpicyThunder335 suggested some sensible measures for communities with a more pressing need to stay online. “For example, r/StopDrinking is a valuable resource for communities in need, and the urgency of getting news of the ongoing war to r/Ukraine clearly outweighs any of these concerns.” They suggested more subtle protests on these forums, including a sticky notice or a weekly gesture of support.
