Thousands of Reddit forums go dark as users protest API data charges

Dedicated topic communities on social media site Reddit have locked users out as it protests certain site changes that will charge developers to access data API's and which will result in the closure of apps such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync.

Among the communities that have taken part in the protest are the prominent r/aww, r/pics, r/videos and r/lifehacks subreddits, to name a few, which each have millions of members, according to a check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

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Most of these are planning to go dark for at least 48 hours, with smaller subreddits planning to go dark indefinitely from June 12, according to media reports. 

Users on the site are lamenting the temporary loss of these prominent communities but have continued to post on the site with the name of the subreddit in their title.

The blackouts come shortly after site changes were made by Reddit. Come July, the rate for apps that require higher usage limits will be US$0.24 per 1K API calls. Reddit's co-founder and CEO, Steve Huffman noted in a thread on the site that some apps, such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync have decided this pricing "doesn’t work for their businesses" and will close before pricing goes into effect.

Huffman also acknowledged that many communities rely on tools like RES, ContextMod, Toolbox. He confirmed that these tools will continue to have free access to the Data API and that it is working together with Pushshift to restore access for verified moderators.

Hoffman was speaking out after Christian Selig, the developer of third-party app Apollo took to Reddit to reveal that he might soon have to shut down his app because of Reddit's changes to its API pricing system.

In his post on Reddit last week, Selig argued that Apollo, made "seven billion requests" last month which would put it at about 1.7 million dollars per month, or 20 million US dollars per year.

The news comes shortly after Reddit revealed that it will be letting go of approximately 5% of its workforce, equivalent to 90 employees, last week. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, Steve Huffman, chief executive of Reddit, said that the company would subsequently reduce hiring to about 100 from the initial plan of 300 for the year 2023. This is an attempt to break even next year.

“We’ve had a solid first half of the year, and this restructuring will position us to carry that momentum into the second half and beyond,” says Huffman in his email to staffers last week.

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