Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has addressed the controversy surrounding the company’s recent API changes in a public Ask Me Anything (AMA) discussion. The API modifications have prompted several popular third-party Reddit apps to announce their closure, leading to discontent within the community. While Huffman promised improvements to Reddit’s own app, he appeared reluctant to address concerns about pricing and other contentious issues that have fueled user dissatisfaction.
In his AMA post, Huffman emphasized the need for Reddit to operate as a self-sustaining business and explained that the company could no longer subsidize commercial entities that heavily rely on large-scale data usage. He acknowledged that some apps, including Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync, found the new pricing model unsuitable for their businesses and would cease operations before the pricing changes take effect.
During the discussion, Huffman provided mostly brief responses to detailed questions, admitting to some missteps in the API rollout. However, he avoided addressing more complex inquiries about the company’s handling of its relationship with third-party developers. Some developers voiced their frustration, noting that they had reached out to Reddit through recommended channels but received no response. Huffman apologized for the oversight and promised that the company would provide a reply.
One point of contention arose when Huffman defended Reddit’s claim that Christian Selig, the developer of Apollo, had threatened the company. Selig refuted the accusation and promptly disproved it by sharing an audio clip of a phone call with a Reddit representative. Huffman reiterated his criticism, citing Selig’s inconsistent behavior and communication as the reason for the strained relationship. When Selig requested examples of such behavior, Huffman did not respond.
Huffman, known as spez on the platform, assured users that Reddit was actively working on enhancing its native app, particularly in the areas of moderation tools and accessibility features. These aspects are often cited by Redditors who prefer third-party apps. Huffman explained that restrictions on sexually explicit content in third-party apps were due to evolving regulatory environments and legal concerns, as the company continually faces challenges in managing such content.
One revealing response came when Huffman was asked about the perception that Reddit has become more profit-driven and less focused on community engagement. He stated that Reddit would prioritize profitability until it achieves it, unlike some third-party apps that are already profitable.
Notably, Huffman left several key questions unanswered, including inquiries about the pricing of the API and the upcoming subreddit blackout in protest of the API changes. Over 3,000 subreddits have pledged to go dark for two days starting from June 12th to demonstrate their opposition.
By the end of the AMA, Huffman had responded to 14 questions, while other executives provided a few answers. Interestingly, the Reddit team’s replies received significant downvotes within the AMA thread, making them difficult to view. A moderator later provided a consolidated link to all their answers at the top of the thread, acknowledging the challenge users faced in finding their responses.