Reddit Is Being Shut Down By Its Own Users
Reddit users are shutting down thsouands of forums next week to protest API changes.
Reddit is effectively shutting down most third-party apps, and its users are revolting. After announcing an astronomical (and likely Twitter-inspired) increase in the cost of accessing Reddit’s API, popular apps such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync have been effectively priced out of the market, making the official Reddit app the only app on the market — an app that has far fewer features than its third-party competitors. In response, many of the site’s moderators (all of whom are unpaid volunteers) are shutting down their popular subreddits.
Some subreddits have chosen to shut down indefinitely, including /r/videos and /r/music. However, most subreddits have only committed to a two-day shutdown, including /r/funny, /r/pics, /r/todayilearned, /r/LifeProTips, /r/DIY, /r/futurology and /r/food. The subs who have only committed to a temporary shutdown say they’ll “use the community and buzz we’ve built between then and now as a tool for further action.”
The moderators of many subreddits planned the largely-symbolic shutdown with the hope of gaining the attention of Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman, also known as “spez.” This planned action did get a response from Huffman in the form of an ask me anything (AMA) thread, which led to thousands of questions being asked, with Reddit staff only answering 21 questions. Many were unhappy with the responses, leading some moderators to threaten to pull down their subreddits indefinitely.
One of the few answers Huffman answered condemned the actions of Apollo developer Christian Selig, who recorded and released a phone call he had with Reddit staff. Huffman accused Selig of saying different things in private than in public, making Selig impossible to work with. In response to this claim, Selig asked Huffman to give examples of this behavior — a request that Huffman has so far ignored.
In the AMA, Huffman also addressed concerns that third-party moderation tools — which many moderators of large subreddits used to help manage the massive communities that they handle. Huffman pointed out that Reddit released a large number of moderation tools over the past two years and that they have even more coming in the near future. Many deemed the answers provided unsatisfactory, with Huffman defending his pricing decisions, and the only real concession was pricing exceptions for accessibility-focused apps.
With the majority of commenters expressing dissatisfaction at Reddit’s response to the controversy, the participating subreddits will likely move forward with their planned outage on June 12. According to a list posted on the subreddit /r/modcoord, more than 4,000 subreddits are taking part in the June 12 blackout, with about 20,000 subreddits that count themselves as “part of this movement” — most of whom are apparently unwilling to go dark for two days.
Huffman stated in the AMA that the API changes are a “profit-based” decision, so the success of this protest will likely depend on the effect it has on Reddit’s bottom line. If a significant number of advertisers decide to dump Reddit (like what happened after Elon Musk bought Twitter), or a large number of users choose to flee the site in response to the changes, there’s a chance that Reddit might change its tune. However, if they stick around and use Reddit as their platform to complain about Reddit, then it’s almost certain that nothing will change.
