Thousands of Reddit communities, known as subreddits, temporarily restricted access in protest against Reddit's new API pricing policy, impacting third-party apps.
The protest, which started on June 12th and lasted for 48 hours, saw over 8,000 subreddits participate, including popular ones like r/funny, r/aww, r/todayilearned, r/pics, r/food, and r/sports, each boasting millions of subscribers.
The changes, announced on May 31st and effective July 1st, involve charging for API access, a move that many third-party app developers say makes their operations unsustainable.
These apps, which offer alternative ways to access Reddit, often provide specialized features and accessibility options not available on the official Reddit app. Moderators of many subreddits also rely on third-party tools for community management.
The pricing changes have led to several popular third-party apps, including Apollo, rif is fun for Reddit, ReddPlanet, and Sync, announcing their shutdown by June 30th.
While acknowledging Reddit's need for revenue, protesting communities and developers criticized the short 30-day transition period and the lack of consideration for user experience and accessibility. The moderators of r/AmITheA--hole, a subreddit with over 8 million subscribers, expressed their concerns, highlighting the difficulty of adapting to such a significant change within the given timeframe.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman addressed the issue in a June 9th "Ask Me Anything" post, stating that Reddit would address accessibility concerns within its official app but would not alter its API pricing plans. Reddit has offered exemptions to some non-commercial apps focused on accessibility, including Luna, Dystopia, and Redreader.
In an internal memo, Huffman expressed confidence that the situation would resolve itself and emphasized the importance of focusing on product improvement and planned updates to moderation tools.
