Have you tried to go on Reddit this morning and noticed that your favorite subreddit is locked and inaccessible? That's because communities across Reddit are taking a stand against the company's attempt to kill off third-party applications like Apollo by increasing the costs of using Reddit's API.
Why is there a Reddit blackout?
Reddit's official app was released in 2016, 11 years after the website first launched. That means that the majority of Reddit users have always used third-party applications to access the platform on smartphones.
In order to access Reddit, these third-party applications require an API (Application Programming Interface).
Christian Selig, the developer of Apollo, explained APIs best. "Think of Reddit having a bouncer, and since day one, that bouncer has been friendly, where if you ask "Hey, can you list out the comments for me for post X?" the bouncer would happily respond with what you requested, provided you didn't ask so often that it was silly. That's the Reddit API: I ask Reddit/the bouncer for some data, and it provides it so I can display it in my app for users. The proposed changes mean the bouncer will still exist, but now ask a huge amount per question."
On June 1st, Reddit revealed new API pricing, which essentially priced out third-party applications with a ridiculous increase in charges that were never going to be achievable for these developers.
Selig posted on r/apolloapp with a detailed explanation of what was going on and his discussions directly with Reddit and its CEO, Steve Huffman. Selig explained that Reddit was increasing the cost of API requests, which would make running his application cost around $20 million a year.
Reddit responded to that post by claiming falsities in Selig's rhetoric, and Hoffman accused Selig of an attempt at blackmail. But, it turned out Selig had been recording every conversation, as it's legal to do so where he lives in Canada. The story then led to Hoffman doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything), where he stuck to his narrative and highlighted that the relationship between Reddit and Apollo, the most popular third-party Reddit app was well and truly severed.
Last week, Selig announced that Apollo would be shutting down on June 30th due to the changes.
This leads us to today (June 12), where over 3000 of the most popular subreddits on the platform, including r/apple and r/iphone have taken a stand - going dark for 48 hours to prevent the new pricing.
“As the subreddit blackout begins, I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to the Reddit community and everyone standing up. Let’s hope Reddit listens,” Selig tweeted on Monday.
As the subreddit blackout begins, I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to the Reddit community and everyone standing up ❤️ Let's hope Reddit listens https://t.co/h6cSYTBZhHJune 12, 2023
