Moderators of several popular Reddit communities have announced their decision to extend their blackout protests indefinitely. Initially, these subreddits had planned to participate in the protest against the company’s API changes from Monday to Wednesday of this week. However, the decision to prolong the demonstration came after Reddit CEO Steve Huffman reportedly sent a memo to staff expressing his belief that the situation would pass, provoking a strong response from the community.
In response to Huffman’s remarks, a user commented, “Let them f*** around and find out.” Moderators from well-known subreddits such as r/awww, r/music, r/videos, r/futurology, r/apple, and r/NBA, among others, expressed their commitment to an indefinite protest. The blackout is a response to Reddit’s decision to raise API prices significantly, a move reminiscent of Elon Musk’s tactics on Twitter, and it has effectively eliminated third-party Reddit clients, including the popular Apollo iOS app. As a result, Reddit’s own app has become the sole option for users. In a moderators’ thread highlighted by The Verge, u/SpicyThunder335 described Reddit’s app as “widely regarded as poor quality, not [accessible], and very difficult to use for moderation.”
Volunteer moderators responded enthusiastically to the proposal for an extended protest. For instance, u/britinsb commented, “The 48 hours was just the ‘proof of concept.’ The fact that [Huffman] is so dismissive of coordinated action by 20,000+ mods and 10,000 subreddits just shows how badly out of touch he is. Now for the real pain.”
Meanwhile, u/strolls suggested more drastic measures, proposing to stop moderating completely except for removing NSFW images, which would allow spammers and low-quality content to flood Reddit. While concerns were raised about Reddit using such actions as an opportunity to replace the protesting mods, a now-deleted user responded, “Let them do it then honestly. They currently have roughly 30k mods protesting that have been doing free labor for them [for] decades, keeping these subreddits usable. It’s not that simple and will only further affect the site’s image with any possible IPO attempt. Twitter messed with their paid staff and dropped to a third of pre-purchase valuation. Reddit can learn as well.”
In the same thread, u/SpicyThunder335 proposed more nuanced approaches for communities with urgent needs to remain online. They suggested measures such as stickied announcements or weekly gestures of support for forums like r/StopDrinking, which provide valuable resources for communities in need, and r/Ukraine, where sharing news about the ongoing conflict takes precedence over the protest concerns.
As the blackout protests continue and gain momentum, it remains to be seen how Reddit will respond to the demands and concerns of its dedicated volunteer moderators. The indefinite extension of the blackout reflects the deep-rooted frustration and discontent within the community regarding the recent changes to the platform’s API and the lack of satisfactory responses from the company’s leadership.
