Numerous subreddits have signaled that they planned to stay private indefinitely, until Reddit meets their demands - which include lowering the API charges for high usage, third-party developers so that popular apps can stay alive.īut Huffman has maintained that the company is not changing its course. Some subreddits participating in this week's blackout returned to Reddit in 48 hours, but others say their protest isn't over. Gilbert added that API access helps moderators keep communities safe and “more quickly respond to spam, bigotry, and harassment.” Third-party apps are also important for screen readers, she said, as the official Reddit app is not accessible for people who are visually impaired. “While Reddit has promised that moderation tools will not be affected by changes to the API, many moderators rely on third party apps and access to data archives to effectively do their work,” Sarah Gilbert, postdoctoral associate at Cornell University and Citizens and Technology Lab research manager, said in a statement - later pointing to how risks of moderator burnout and essential retention. Reddit's backbone of volunteer moderators who rely on these and similar apps will likely feel the brunt of the impacts, experts note. Popular third party apps, including Apollo and Reddit Is Fun, have already announced plans to shut down at the end of the month due to costs of the API changes - with Apollo developer Christian Selig estimating fees would total about $20 million a year. Reddit's API changes have caused outrage - as many Redditors say they are concerned about losing long-used third-party resources. WHY ARE SUBREDDITS PROTESTING THIS CHANGE? Reddit also noted that API access will remain free for moderator tools and bots. Not all third-party apps will be charged, as the policy is based on usage levels, and some noncommercial, accessibility-focused apps can also continue with free access, the company said. and it that we can endure into the future. “I would like to be a self-sustaining company - it means we’re defensible. "Running a product like reddit is expensive," Huffman told The Associated Press, pointing to the millions of dollars Reddit spends on supporting high-usage, third-party apps. Starting July 1, Reddit plans to charge third-party apps requiring higher usage limits. Third parties have used Reddit's free API access in the past, for example, to request data and build apps that work with the platform.īut Reddit announced it would be changing its API access polices earlier this year. In short, an API allows computer programs to communicate with each another. WHAT IS API? AND HOW IS REDDIT CHANGING ACCESS TO THIRD-PARTY APPS? The company also notes that the new fees will only apply to eligible apps that require high usage limits, and the majority of API users will not have to pay for access. CEO Steve Huffman says that supporting high-usage third-party developers to access its data is too expensive. While some returned to their public settings after 48 hours, others say they will stay private indefinitely, until Reddit meets their demands.īut Reddit, a subsidiary of New York-based Advance Publications, is not changing course. Nearly 9,000 subreddits went dark this week and more than 4,000 remained dark on Friday, including communities with tens of millions of subscribers like r/music and r/videos - according to a tracker of the boycott. Subreddit “mods" often use tools outside of the official app to keep their forums free of spam and hateful content, for example, as well as improve accessibility. Organizers of the blackout, which began Monday, say Reddit's changes threaten to end key ways of historically customizing the platform - which relies heavily on the work of volunteer moderators. The new fees are part of broader changes to Reddit's API, or application programming interface, that the company announced recently. “Reddit is killing third-party applications (and itself)," multiple subreddits wrote in posts seen on the platform's homepage this week. WASHINGTON (AP) - Thousands of Reddit discussion forums have gone dark this week to protest a new policy that will charge some third-party apps to access data on the site, leading to worries about content moderation and accessibility.
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