Image via @wongmjane
After popular third-party Reddit app Apollo announced it was shutting down at the end of this month, the CEO of Reddit held an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Friday in an attempt to clear the air–and it didn’t go as planned.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, known as u/spez on the platform, reiterated that the company would be updating its API access, including introducing premium access for third parties requiring additional capabilities and higher usage limits. The move is part of Reddit’s strategy to become a self-sustaining business.
“First, let me share the background on this topic as well as some clarifying details. On 4/18, we shared that we would update access to the API, including premium access for third parties who require additional capabilities and higher usage limits. Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business, and to do that, we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use,” said Huffman.
The new pricing model has implications for several third-party apps. Apps such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync have determined that the new pricing model does not align with their business strategies and have decided to shut down before the new pricing goes into effect. Apollo’s Canadian founder said his API costs would surge to $20 million per year.
To protest Reddit’s new API policy, a “Reddark” campaign has launched today, where subreddits will go dark or read-only. According to the Reddark page, as of writing, 7,807 subreddits have gone dark—meaning you can’t access them anymore.
The campaign has seemingly caused Reddit to go offline and not load for many. “We’re aware of problems loading content and are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible, said Reddit on Monday morning less than an hour ago, noting the downtime is affected its Desktop Web, Mobile Web, and Native Mobile Apps. As of writing, Reddit is loading fine for us.
It seems Reddit may be having its own incident here that’s reminiscent of Digg making major changes back in the day, resulting in a major exodus of its users. Digg’s new founders made design changes that upset its userbase, that eventually drifted towards Reddit instead.
