Reddit API Charges Spark Outrage and Dayslong Blackout: A Closer Look

In a recent development, thousands of Reddit communities have initiated a blackout in response to proposed changes to the company's billing structure for third-party developers, which went into effect on Monday. This blackout ensued after the developer of the popular third-party app, Apollo, announced that he would be discontinuing his business due to the substantial costs imposed by Reddit's pricing changes, amounting to millions of dollars.




Reports indicate that Reddit has been considering an initial public offering (IPO) and has been seeking to strengthen its financial position since 2021. The current controversy revolves around the company's decision to charge developers thousands of dollars for access to its application programming interface (API).




A post announcing the blackout, titled "Don't Let Reddit Kill 3rd Party Apps!", implored users to voice their complaints and boycott the platform. The organizers of the blackout outlined a series of demands, with the resolution of API-related issues identified as the top priority.




One of the concerns expressed by the blackout organizers pertains to the restriction placed on third-party apps regarding running their own advertisements or benefiting from Reddit's advertising platform. Given that Reddit generates a significant portion of its revenue from advertising, this policy, coupled with the proposed API pricing changes, poses a considerable risk to third-party developers.




It is worth noting that Reddit is majority-owned by Advance Publications, the parent company of Condé Nast and a major shareholder in Charter Communications and Warner Bros. Discovery.




Among the most severely impacted by Reddit's billing change is the popular third-party app Apollo, which faced similar challenges when Twitter, under the ownership of Elon Musk, implemented comparable practices on its social media network.




Developers utilize APIs to directly communicate with a website's software or infrastructure, enabling Reddit's third-party developer ecosystem to create applications and services for users. Christian Selig, the developer behind Apollo, stated in a Reddit post that this change would result in an annual cost of $20 million, compelling him to discontinue Apollo by the end of June.




According to a Twitch stream tracking the blackout, the moderators of more than 6,600 subreddits—specialized communities operating on Reddit—have made their communities private or restricted access as of Monday morning. These communities encompass various topics such as humor, gaming, and gadgets, and their participation in the blackout has deprived hundreds of millions of Redditors of access in a show of protest.