More than six thousand subreddits, including popular ones like r/funny, r/aww, r/gaming, r/music, and r/science, have set themselves to private in protest of Reddit’s upcoming API pricing changes. As a result, these communities are now inaccessible to the public, even for previously subscribed Reddit users. A Twitch stream is currently tracking the exact number of subreddits that have gone dark.
Modulators started planning these actions last week, after the developers of some of Reddit’s most beloved third-party apps announced that they would not be able to afford the updated API pricing. The developers for Apollo for Reddit and others announced on Thursday that they would shut down their apps on June 30th due to the API changes.
“This isn’t something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love,” wrote r/Toptomcat in a post. Some subreddits did not wait until Monday, however. r/TIHI (Thanks, I Hate It) and r/polls were among those that went dark shortly after CEO Steve Huffman’s poorly received Friday AMA.
Christian Selig, the Apollo app developer, whose post about Reddit’s API pricing sparked most of the initial outrage, describes it as “incredibly amazing” to see Reddit’s community coming together to push back against the proposed changes. “I really hope Reddit listens,” he wrote in a post on the Apollo subreddit. “I think showing humanity through apologizing for and recognizing that this process was handled poorly, and concrete promises to give developers more time, would go a long way to making people feel heard and instilling community confidence.”
While many subreddits have gone private, others such as r/NintendoSwitch, r/Frugal, and r/StarWars are simply restricting new posts. While historical posts remain visible, these communities will not allow new content while the protest is taking place. R/DankMemes, on the other hand, remains public but only allows users to post memes about the API changes.
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