Reddit Communities Go Dark in Protest Over Recent Modifications
Reddit Dark
Summary: Major crypto subreddits have chosen to go dark for the next 48 hours in protest of Reddit's controversial fees against developers of third-party programs. There are 3,489 subreddits that have gone dark. Changes include limiting users' access to APIs and other resources.
Major crypto subreddits are among many who have chosen to go dark for the next 48 hours in protest of Reddit’s controversial fees against developers of third-party programs.
There are 3,489 subreddits that have gone dark in protest, including five of the top 10 communities on the site with memberships of more than 30 million people each (r/gaming, r/aww, r/Music, r/todayilearned, and r/pics).
Limiting Access to APIs
Reddit couldn’t function without the hard work of its moderators. However, the social networking company said in April that its interface will be updated. Changes include limiting users’ access to APIs and other resources.
Third-party apps like Apollo, Reddit is Fun, Sync, and ReddPlanet were the only ways for users to browse Reddit on the go until the official app was published in 2016.
Developers to Pay the Price
Developers that want to continue utilizing Reddit’s Application Programming Interface (API)—the back-end code that lets third-party apps find and show content from Reddit—will now have to pay a set of fees to do so. All four of these apps have indicated they would be shutting down due to Reddit’s increasing API costs.
It is charging developers $12,000 for 50M requests. The Apollo developer calculated that the yearly cost of accessing Reddit’s APIs was $20 million.
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Several prominent cryptocurrency subreddits are very opposed to the change, including r/Bitcoin, r/CryptoCurrency, and r/Cardano. These are just a few of the hundreds of subreddits that will be shuttered or made reader-only between June 12 and 14 in opposition to the reforms. Moreover, Reddit is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO).
It’s possible that the protest on certain subreddits may go longer than 48 hours. As users demand that Reddit undo the changes. The platform has long been associated with Web3 and NFT sector. To appeal to a native consumer audience that may be unfamiliar with blockchain technology. Reddit has avoided using the word “NFT” in any of its marketing efforts since joining the NFT sector.
