Reddit Goes Dark: Thousands Of Subreddits Join Blackout Protest Against New Policy

If Reddit feels quieter than usual, it's not just you. A blackout protest is currently underway at Reddit. Many popular subreddits have voluntarily shut down to protest against the popular site's new policy.

Starting June 12, 2023, over 3,500 subreddits will "go dark" in protest against Reddit's planned changes to how third-party developers are treated.

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Subreddits "go dark"

Most of these subreddits should be back to normal on June 14. Until then, the best part of Reddit will essentially remain dark. And protesting subreddits are banking on users not logging onto the app.

What is the protest about?

If you're familiar with Reddit, you know that there are sub-communities called subreddits that make up the app. Each subreddit has at least a moderator to keep the content on topic and to fight hate speech and other issues.

Such moderators work for free - Reddit doesn't pay them. When a subreddit becomes too popular to be moderated by an individual, AI bots take over. These third-party apps need to interact with Reddit APIs. Access to these APIs has been free. However, earlier this year Reddit announced that API access would no longer be free (something Twitter also did).

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Also read: Reddit User Shares Ordeal Of Sony's Flagship Earbuds Exploding In Case

Reddit expects the biggest and most popular accounts to start paying for the APIs. At that time, Reddit promised to keep prices for API access reasonable. But then something happened. Christian Selig, the developer of popular iOS Reddit app Apollo shared how much developers would be expected to pay to use Reddit's APIs. Based on his estimations, Selig would be required to pay $20 million each year to run Apollo under new terms.

Also read: Elon Musk's Latest Twitter Change Could Kill Many Iconic Bot Accounts

Reddit gave him 60 days before enforcing the change. Naturally, outcry across Reddit followed. At this point, subreddit r/Save3rdPartyApps began to convince users and subreddits to "go dark" in protest against the company - with 48 hours as the estimated period.

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Many third party apps like Apollo, Sync, and RIF will have to shut down permanently owing to this policy change, and Redditors aren't happy.

What do you think about Reddit's new policy? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.