Reddit Users Protest Against the New API Price; All Details

If you are a regular Reddit user, you must have noticed several communities that have already gone dark. This is not a coincidence but rather part of the protests that various Reddit users have been planning over the platform's new API pricing for the past few days. In April, Reddit's CEO and co-founder announced that Reddit would start charging for its API.

"More than any other place on the internet, Reddit is a home for authentic conversation. There's a lot of stuff on the site that you'd only ever say in therapy, AA, or never at all. But we don't need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free," the CEO had told The New York Times in an interview.

The announcement was met with backlash back then, and now that the new API pricing is coming into effect soon, various Reddit communities are protesting against it.

Find all the details here:

As mentioned above, Reddit users are protesting against the new API pricing policy that will charge third-party apps for using their API. Reddit communities reportedly decided to protest after Apollo app developer Christian Selig shared details about his conversation with Reddit about the new API pricing. Apollo is a Reddit app that features a smooth design for iOS.

All about Reddit Pricing

Selig mentioned that his app would have to pay $20 million per year to Reddit to keep it running. "Had a call with Reddit to discuss pricing. Bad news for third-party apps, their announced pricing is close to Twitter's pricing, and Apollo would have to pay Reddit $20 million per year to keep running as-is," the Reddit post read. He added that Reddit needed to be more flexible about this price.

The CEO of Reddit, two days ago, addressed reports of Reddit user protests, saying that 'Reddit needs to be a self-sufficient business and to do so, they can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require the use of data to big scale. '.

Users Disappointment

Many users commented on the post and expressed their solidarity with Apollo. "Their price is outlandish," wrote one user, while another wrote: "Reddit is jealous that you made a better app. Shame on the greed." As the new pricing date approaches, another Apollo post confirmed that the app would shut down because they won't be able to keep up with the latest pricing policy. Several users who use Apollo were disappointed.

Communities or Subreddits to shut down

Thousands of communities or subreddits reportedly planned to shut down to protest API pricing on June 12. This means community posts will only be available to members and not other users. While some communities reportedly plan to return after 48 hours, others will remain in the dark forever. Some communities that have joined the protest include r/apple, r/funny, r/PS5, and r/gaming. These subreddits have millions of followers.

"If it was a single subreddit going private, Reddit may intervene. But if it's half the entire website, then you feel a lot more pressure. This is a completely volunteer position, we don't receive any financial compensation, and despite that, we do like to take it quite seriously," a moderator of a popular subreddit told the BBC.