Reddit will follow through with its planned API changes, according to a company spokesperson—as more than 8,000 subreddits continue a blackout protest set to last until Wednesday due to planned pricing changes for developers.
Reddit will implement new API policies next month. (Photo illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key Takeaways
- More than 8,000 subreddits have gone dark in protest of application programming interface pricing changes that will be implemented by Reddit on July 1—changes that users say will kill third-party apps like Apollo and Narwhal—such apps give millions of users alternative interfaces to browse Reddit.
- One of the policy changes will charge third-party app developers that need high usage limits $0.24 for every 1,000 API calls—which allow an application to request data or services from a separate application—and are integral to the services provided by some third-party apps.
- Apollo creator Christian Selig has said the change would cost him and his team $20 million a year.
- A Reddit spokesperson told Forbes the company is not “planning any changes to the API updates” they previously announced.
- On Tuesday, an internal company memo published by The Verge told employees the blackouts have not had a significant revenue impact and that the protest will eventually pass.
- Third-party apps like Apollo, Reddit is Fun and Sync plan to shut down their services on June 30 as a result of the changes.
What To Watch For
There is no clear indication of when the subreddit blackout will completely cease—as some subreddits have planned to keep their pages blacked out until June 14 while others intend to protest until Reddit considers walking back the changes. A post on r/Save3rdPartyApps said the two-day blackout is not the goal and “isn’t the end.” If there are no signs of Reddit seeking to change their guidelines by June 14, users will “use the community and buzz we’ve built between then and now as a tool for further action,” the post added.
Contra
Last week, Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman addressed the changes in a post and ask me anything session, in which he stated the API changes and pricing updates are needed to keep Reddit operating as a self-sustaining business. “To do that,” Huffman said, “we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use.” Reddit spends millions of dollars on hosting fees, according to a Reddit spokesperson, who added that pricing is based on usage levels that are measured to be comparable to company costs.
Key Background
The API changes were first introduced in April, but did not receive mass resistance from users until this month. Extremely popular subreddits such as r/Apple, r/gaming, r/Music, r/sports and several others have gone dark in protest of the changes—meaning tens of millions of users following the subreddits can no longer interact with the pages. Alternatively, some subreddits have kept their pages open, but limited users from making new posts.
This article was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
