Reddit Is Reportedly Retaliating Against Planned Protesters

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Reddit Is Reportedly Retaliating Against Planned Protesters

Reddit is reportedly retaliating against those planning a protest against the company’s recent policy change, blocking their accounts.

Reddit ignited a firestorm when news broke that its plans to charge for its API could kill Apollo, a popular third-party client. Despite initially saying it would keep its API free for free apps, as well as those that enrich the platform, Apollo’s developer says the company’s plans would cost him $20 million per year.

Many subreddits are planning to go dark on June 12 to protest the company’s decision. User Goplayoutside revealed that their account was blocked after sending out a message to several subreddits they moderate, supporting the blackout:

As you may be aware, there is an upcoming protest[0] on June 12-14 where many subreddits are going private for 48 hours in protest of reddit’s API fee increase, which many expect will lead to the end of all third party apps. I moderate a few subreddits for a niche hobby, and decided to join the protest. We’re fairly small, if non-negligible potatos: altogether, maybe 10k-15k active users on a busy day, but still want to show support.

So, I commented to add the subs to the list[1] and made announcement posts based on the template[4] linked from r/modcoord.

Several minutes later, the site logged me out. I received an email from reddit that said my account had been locked for “suspicious activity” and I would need to reset my password.

Interestingly, Goplayoutside says they plan to encourage their communities to use other sites:

Looks like it’s finally time to encourage my community to move to another site.

Whatever Reddit’s plans, the platform has a growing revolt on its hands, one that may cost the company much more than it looks to gain by charging for its API.

Reddit Is Reportedly Retaliating Against Planned Protesters
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