Reddit's defenders, including some users, have said it is Reddit's right to set its own prices for API access, and that it is a business entitled to control how users access the data on the platform it provides. They also fear the moves will decimate a volunteer community that relies on third-party tools to do the critical work of moderating Reddit forums - responsibility Reddit delegates to users of the site rather than to its own paid employees or to contractors, unlike some other large social networks. Critics of Reddit say the platform's steep fees will kill off all third-party competition against Reddit's proprietary app, which many users have derided as slow, buggy and inferior. Selig's app is just one casualty of the coming changes. Selig, however, recorded his phone call with the company, a fact Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman later acknowledged in a Q&A with users.
Reddit further inflamed tensions with some in its developer community by appearing to misrepresent the details of its private conversation with Selig to suggest he had blackmailed the company. He later said he has no choice but to close down the app. Last week Christian Selig, developer of the popular Apollo app, said Reddit wanted to charge him US$20 million a year to keep his app running.
Now, however, Reddit is seeking large payments from app makers to maintain that same level of access through its application programming interface (API), in a move apparently aimed at better monetizing Reddit users. For years, Reddit users could browse posts, write comments and share pictures and video on Reddit from third-party apps. The confrontation between Reddit's corporate management and its users and developers marks a turning point for the platform as it reportedly looks to go public later this year. The plan has already forced several of Reddit's top app-makers to announce they are shutting down because they cannot afford the new costs, which are set to begin as soon as next month. Monday's protests reflect widespread outrage over a Reddit plan to charge millions of dollars in fees for some third-party apps to continue accessing the platform. Get the latest newsletters right to your inbox.
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The protests include more than two dozen subreddits with at least 10 million subscribers, as well as thousands of smaller networks. The voluntary blackouts, which restrict groups' content from being publicly visible, affect Reddit's largest online communities, including popular groups devoted to music, history, sports, and video games. Thousands of Reddit forums are going dark Monday in one of the largest user-driven protests ever to hit the social media platform.
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