Reddit is on fire due to API charging, CEO responds to the question 'Do you have any questions?' plan to block access to

Reddit, an overseas bulletin board, has been severely criticized by third-party application developers and others since announcing the API charge. Along with this, Reddit CEO Steve Hoffman implemented a project to respond to questions from users called 'AMA (Ask Me Anything)' on June 9, 2023 local time. The result is 'more miserable,' reports the overseas media The Verge.

Reddit's users and moderators are revolting against its CEO - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/10/23756476/reddit-protest-api-changes-apollo-third-party-apps

In April 2023, Reddit announced that it would charge for its API and limit the number of API requests made by third-party apps that browse Reddit. As a result, third-party Reddit browsing apps will have to pay for the API, and Christian Selig, developer of the popular client app Apollo , said, ``The new API will cost $ 20 million a year (about 2.8 billion yen). ) costs,” he criticized.

Possibility of Reddit blocking third-party apps, new API makes 7 billion requests per month, about 2.8 billion yen per year - GIGAZINE

by Alpha Photo

In response, Selig has announced that Apollo's service will end on June 30, 2023.

Third-party application 'Apollo' announces service termination due to Reddit's API charge - GIGAZINE

Mr. Selig is not the only one who sees Reddit's API charge as a problem. Many engineers who develop third-party Reddit client applications see API charging as a problem, and according to a project called 'Reddark', which organizes subreddits that support the protest, more than 100 subreddits have already charged APIs. It has announced that it will block posts to protest, and thousands of subreddits will follow the protests in the future.

Reddark
https://reddark.untone.uk/

In response to these moves, Reddit CEO Hoffman held an AMA on June 9, 2023, local time. Hoffman CEO was thrown the F word by many users, and many users were taunting Hoffman CEO as a coward , ``No positive comments were found,'' The Verge said.

Addressing the community about changes to our API : reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/

Subreddit moderators and third-party Reddit app developers point out that Hoffman and Reddit have lost trust. A moderator of one of the subreddits, r/videos , pointed out that Hoffman's AMA was a ``collage of inappropriate reactions''. The moderators of r/funny also criticized that they are only aiming for the imminent IPO.

Many subreddits have promised to keep their subreddits private for 48 hours and make them inaccessible from the outside in order to protest Reddit's API charge. However, r/videos, which has 26 million members, has said it will suspend publishing indefinitely until the issue is resolved.

According to r/ModCoord , one of the subreddits, the protest against API charging is ``equal access to NSFW content, accessibility for the visually impaired, and a fee that third-party app developers can understand. It will be changed to the setting' and it will end.

Hoffman mentions in the AMA that ``Reddit is always open to dialogue with third-party app developers'', but Tony Lupeski, developer of ReddPlanet , one of the third-party apps, said, ' It's a bright lie ,' he denies Hoffman's remarks. In addition, another user said to CEO Hoffman, ``It's not the answer, and you should understand it,'' and criticized Hoffman's response at AMA.

Subreddit moderator Merari01 asked, ``Why didn't Reddit test new changes for users and moderators?'' Hoffman said, ``We shared information about API charging in April. ” is the answer . However, as of this April, the announcement did not include pricing information for the charged API, and did not mention that the display of NSFW content in third-party apps would be prohibited.

Since Hoffman's AMA, some subreddits have strengthened their response to API charges, and on one of the popular subreddits, r/iPhone, moderators have changed the posting block period for protests from '48 hours'. It is due to be extended. About this, r/iPhone said, ``Originally, the protest was only scheduled for 48 hours.However, after the disastrous AMA held by Reddit's CEO, it became clear that Reddit had no intention of acting in good faith. Reddit's CEO lied to another third-party app developer, spread slanderous allegations, and in an AMA despite voice recordings proving the CEO to be lying. Once again, we are slandering third-party app developers.This AMA has made it clear what we are up against.' In addition, r / iPhone explained that `` Reddit will continue to block postings until the (unlikely) situation where the decision on the latest API policy change occurs.

UPDATE: In less than 24 hours, /r/iPhone will be going private indefinitely.
https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/145yx97/update_in_less_than_24_hours_riphone_will_be/

In addition, r/Music, one of the largest subreddits on Reddit, has blocked access to its community indefinitely ' until Reddit makes an API policy change ' and r/Gaming has blocked access to its community for ' more than 48 hours. ' I'm assuming.

According to r / ModCoord, there are about 4,500 subreddits that support the series of protests.