Major Reddit community will go dark to protest threat to third-party apps

Some of the largest communities on Reddit include r/video, r/reactiongifs, r/EarthpornAnd r/lifeprotips Planning to go private over June 12 new pricing For third party app developers to access the Site’s API. Setting a subreddit to private, aka “going dark,” would mean participating communities would be inaccessible to the wider public during the 48-hour planned protest.

As a reddit post About the protest, which has since been cross-posted to several participating subreddits, explains:

On June 12, several subreddits will go dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will leave permanently until the issue is adequately addressed, as many moderators have not been able to keep up with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn’t something any of us do easily: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to continue doing the work we love. .

Developers of several third-party Reddit apps have said the company’s new pricing threatens the future of their services. Developer behind ApolloReddit, for example, said that at its current rate of making 7 billion requests per month, it would need to pay $1.7 million for access to Reddit’s API, or $20 million per year. Developer Christian Selig wrote, “I don’t see how this pricing is based in reality or even remotely fair.” “I hope it goes without saying that I don’t have that kind of money or even know how to charge it to a credit card.”

However, one of Reddit’s employees has argued that the new API fees should be affordable if third-party apps are efficient with the API calls they make. “Our pricing is $0.24 per 1000 API calls, which equates to <$1.00 per user monthly for a properly powered app," they wrote, “Apollo as an app is less efficient than its peers and has been excessive at times – probably because it is free to do so.”

But the developers behind other third-party Reddit apps have expressed similar concerns. reddit is fun It would have to deliver a figure “in the same ballpark” as Apollo to continue to operate and it “doesn’t earn anywhere near this number.” The developer behind Narwhal said it “will happen”.dead in 30 daysAs a result of the allegations.

The ability to shut down the operation of third-party apps is particularly problematic for subreddit moderators, who say they often rely on these tools to manage their communities. “In many cases these apps offer better mod tools, customization, streamlined interfaces, and other quality-of-life improvements that the official app doesn’t offer,” Moderator Bakrodi wrote in an open letter It has since been co-signed by moderators of several other subreddits. “The potential loss of these services due to price changes would significantly impact our ability to moderate efficiently.”

As well as new API pricing, the open letter also raises concerns about third-party apps’ ability to show ads (a major source of revenue) and new restrictions that will prevent NSFW (not safe for work) content from being created . Available via API.