Reddit Users Plan 48-Hour Blackout to Protest New Pricing Policy

Reddit users are planning a 48-hour blackout to protest the platform’s new pricing policy regarding its application programming interface (API). The API is used by third-party applications such as Apollo to display Reddit content. As a result of the charges, many of these apps have said they will close down. Nearly 3,500 subreddit forums are set to go private as users express their dissatisfaction with the costs involved. In a post, a user named u/Toptomcat said that numerous subreddits would go dark to protest the policy and might not return without a satisfactory resolution. CEO Steve Huffman acknowledged the frustrations of the community and thanked moderators for their feedback. Huffman commented that the decision to charge for using the API was because Reddit didn’t want to give away all its data for free. Huffman added that Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business and efficient in providing an open, accessible place for people looking for community and belonging. Alongside Google and Microsoft, Reddit data also trains their AI systems. While Huffman stated that the platform needed to be profitable, Reddit users are feeling the effects of the decision to charge, which has led to a large-scale backlash.