After Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced the platform will start charging third-party app developers astronomical fees in order to access Reddit’s API (Application Programming Interface), thousands of subreddits chose to go private in order to protest the decision. Now, Reddit is reportedly removing moderators of some of these private subreddits, ostensibly to forcibly reopen the subreddits and break protest. In response to what many moderators perceive as silence and a lack of transparency on Reddit’s part, one of the largest moderator communities on the platform have made a list of demands.
A user on the social media platform Famichiki made a post claiming one of their friends, a moderator for the large subreddit r/tumblr, received a message informing her she no longer had rights as moderator and that subreddit was once again public.
“To be very clear, the subreddit members had specifically voted in favor of going private. It seems like reddit [sp] will stoop lower and lower to try and break the blackout.”
In an effort to provide proof, the user shared a screenshot of the community poll deciding to take the sub private as well as comments proving their friend’s tenure as a mod. As of Tuesday, r/tumblr is once again a private community after reportedly going public again for a short period of time.
Additionally, a moderator of r/ModCoord made a post explaining the blackout and calling on subreddits to go private indefinitely if possible. The post explains that while nearly 9000 subreddits protested, a 48 hour blackout will not be enough to sway Reddit to make changes to its controversial new policy, citing a memo from Reddit’s CEO about the blackout: “There’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we’ve seen. Please know that our teams are on it, and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well.”
The community included a list of demands (which you can read here in full) regarding fixing API technical issues while continuing to allow third-party apps, making Reddit accessible for blind people, and keeping NSFW content accessible (including discussions about abuse and medical conditions) on third-party apps.
Many Reddit users find the official app and site clunky at best and completely inaccessible at worst, depending on third-party apps like Apollo and Reddit is Fun to access the platform. Arguably the most high-profile of these is Apollo, whose developer claimed he would be forced to pay over $20 million yearly per the rates he has been quoted under Reddit’s new policy. Many users are decrying the decision as money-hungry, short-sighted, and questioning whether Reddit will be accessible for users with disabilities once the changes go into effect. As of now, Reddit’s new policy will go into effect June 30.
