As the Reddit war rages on, community trust is the casualty

Over 8,400 subreddits went dark from June 12 through June 14 to protest new API pricing that is about to shutter many third-party Reddit apps. But now that the biggest uprising in Reddit history is slowing, what’s next for Reddit?

Despite weeks of heated debate, Reddit still plans to begin its API pricing system on July 1. The social media company has until now provided free API access, but—after claiming it didn’t want AI chatbots to profit off Reddit’s content for free—it announced pricing changes so dramatic that popular third-party Reddit app Apollo faced a $20 million annual bill. Apollo now plans to close ahead of the API changes; so do other third-party apps.

With the blackout over on many subreddits, Reddit is banking on the outrage passing. But Reddit—once a thriving, distinct community—has depleted significant communal goodwill in this battle. Volunteer moderators remain apprehensive of a future without third-party apps, and thousands of subreddits still aren’t public again. Reddit will try to grow revenue off a community whose most dedicated members remain anxious.

The war continues

Reddit’s sudden rollout of high prices is a needlessly painful way of reminding the community who makes the rules, but Reddit has always had the right to make money off the platform it built. No one can stop Reddit from charging what it wants or boxing out third-party apps. But because Reddit is built on user-generated content, volunteer moderators, and thousands of unique and almost totally self-governed communities, it doesn’t get to decide when the war is over. The argument will continue indefinitely—and for hundreds of subreddits, so will the blackouts. (Reddit declined to comment about the continuing protests to Ars Technica.)

A post on the r/ModCoord subreddit says that over 300 subreddits will “remain private or otherwise inaccessible indefinitely until Reddit provides an adequate solution.” Included subreddits include high-trafficked communities like r/aww (34.1 million subscribers) and r/music (32.3 million). The number of subreddits still dark as of this writing, though, is much larger. According to the Reddark counter on Twitch, around 5,200 subreddits are still dark (about 60 percent of the number of subreddits that promised to join the original protest). This number is steadily declining, however.

“More is needed for Reddit to act,” the June 13 post on r/ModCoord says. For subreddits with difficulties going private due to the social value of their subject matter (such as r/StopDrinking), the post suggests “a weekly gesture of support” like “a weekly one-day blackout, an automod-posted sticky announcement” or “a changed subreddit rule to encourage participation themed around the protest.”

The same community that built Reddit is now weaponizing its unity in its fight against Reddit. Protestors are using Reddit to organize protests against Reddit. And they’re using Reddit to share images illustrating how bad they think the platform will become.

Mod exodus

Moderators are spearheading the ongoing protests, as they are some of the users most affected by third-party apps closing. Akaash Maharaj, an r/Equestrian mod and member of Reddit’s Mod Council (who was careful to say he is not speaking for other mods or for users in the community), told Ars:

Many [high-activity] communities are reporting a mass exodus of volunteer moderators, who fear that without third-party tools, they will not be able to cope with the burden of sifting through all that material to identify and weed out illegitimate posts.

It’s hard to coax new, inexperienced volunteers to take on the work that experienced volunteers are rejecting, Maharaj pointed out.

Exacerbating the problem is Reddit’s history of failing to address user needs proactively. Most recently, it failed to clearly communicate API pricing exemptions for accessibility-focused apps. So far, Reddit has only provided two accessibility-focused apps with exemptions and hasn’t explained why others don’t make the cut. Going back further, Reddit was slow to release its own app, which was built on the acquisition of a third-party app and which disappoints users to this day.

Reddit frequently promises to improve its native apps to improve the Reddit experience, but the needs that third-party apps fulfill are longstanding ones. While Reddit was off working on flashy business ventures like NFTs and Reddit Premium to grow revenue, the community was building and maintaining the tools that kept Reddit’s core alive. Without those tools and with only vague promises of future improvements, moderating Reddit can be a tough sell right now.

Reddit has said that mod tools won’t be subject to the new API limits, but again, Reddit has the final say on which apps get a pass. Mods are clearly unsatisfied with the tools they expect to remain available to them come July 1.

Ars Technica reached out to the moderators of the r/ModCoord subreddit, who told us:

Even if the API makes exceptions for mod tooling, there’s a very real possibility that the developers that maintain these tools are not interested in working with Reddit anymore. There’s also no promises that these tools won’t go away six months from now and no faith that these promises will be followed through on.

Power struggle

Social media platforms often try to show their appreciation for users’ content and dedication, but these platforms are, of course, businesses. Once money starts becoming a problem, the industry’s inherent power struggle becomes apparent.

Reddit’s battle with devs, mods, and users is just the most recent version of the struggle. Reddit felt like something that the community built with the company, but while Reddit was happy to offload the responsibility for content creation, moderation, and (until recently) app development to third parties, it wasn’t willing to hand over real power.

Sudden, unaffordable API pricing (Reddit will charge $12,000 for 50 million API requests) and Reddit’s obstinacy are also harsh warnings to devs about the risks of building something totally reliant on a platform they don’t own. Many devs thought Reddit would always allow reasonable pricing for its API and have put in years of work based on that assumption. In the future, devs should think twice about building products based on properties they can’t control, assuming a company will always be supportive and reasonable (or even agreeing with them about what “supportive” and “reasonable” mean). That could mean a future where devs are far less incentivized to create innovations.

Reddit has flexed a lot of muscle during the power struggle it initiated, but it doesn’t have complete control over the situation, either, as evidenced by the site crashing for three hours due to the protests on Monday—and the fact that users are plotting further protests on its site. Reddit’s CEO, Steve Huffman, reportedly told employees in a mid-blackout memo that the protest hadn’t significantly impacted Reddit’s revenue yet, but a long-term protest with thousands of subreddits could potentially impact ad sales. The fact that we’re even discussing this as a possibility shows that when a platform ties its existence to free content and labor, users inevitably have (at least some) level of influence.

Biting the hand that feeds you

Arguably, Reddit’s biggest mistake in all of this was not showing appreciation for the community that made it a success. r/Equestrian mod Maharaj told us that most mods understand Reddit’s need for money and the desire to charge for-profit businesses for access to its API.

“It is astonishing that Reddit’s corporate leadership took this near-unanimous support and twisted it into the most serious uprising in the platform’s history,” Maharaj said.

People might learn to forgive or more quickly forget high prices, but it will be a while before hardcore users forget how little their opinions matter, despite having provided Reddit with free content, moderation, and tool development for years.

“[Reddit] immediately squandered moderator goodwill, which should have been their single greatest asset in implementing any changes,” Maharaj added.

Huffman’s memo to employees reportedly said the company was working with a couple of third-party apps and noted the closure of Apollo and others. But the memo seemed unbothered about the closures and suggested Reddit would simply let things blow over. But sometimes offending your core audience doesn’t just “blow over.”

Remember Digg? Its infamous redesign in 2010 was aimed at profitability but didn’t consider user feedback enough. The site quickly lost almost a third of its visitors. Meanwhile, Twitter endured user backlash after making API access unaffordable and has since struggled to maintain its value.

In contrast, Twitch and Instagram recently showed flexibility in policy and design changes based on public outcry. The points of contention differ, but Reddit’s approach to user criticism still feels particularly stubborn.

Lost sense of community

When discussing what’s next for Reddit, we can start by highlighting what should be next—healing the hemorrhaging sense of community.

Reddit used to be a proud place for nerds. Now, its CEO is reportedly warning employees in an internal memo to “be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public.” Reddit used to be a company people considered an ally for users rather than corporate-speak execs. Those perceptions changed over the past few weeks.

A contentious Q&A that Reddit leaders held last Friday is a big part of that. Users submitted thousands of questions, but Huffman curtly answered only a few.

When asked about concerns that “Reddit has become increasingly profit-driven and less focused on community engagement,” Huffman said, “We’ll continue to be profit-driven until profits arrive. Unlike some of the [third-party] apps, we are not profitable.”

It’s not just the community of hardcore users that was disrupted. Reddit has a strong user base that primarily comes through Google searches. The protests had a notable impact on those users. Reddit built a reputation for being a source with a human, expert voice that many other results on Google can’t replicate, but the blackout was a reminder of how tenuous that all is. How many times does someone have to be met with a private or read-only subreddit before they stop appending “site:reddit.com” to their Google searches?

Most people get it: Reddit is in a tough situation. It’s one of the world’s most popular websites, but it’s not profitable, and it’s preparing to go public this year. Meanwhile, all tech companies are grappling with the implications of AI. And while generative AI’s future is unpredictable, Reddit has suggested that its data should have monetary value in that future.

But Reddit’s biggest asset is its community. Charging for its API may be a necessary evil to survive an uncertain future, but Reddit’s attitude against its own community isn’t. Reddit is burning bridges on its quest for cash without showing an ounce of sympathy. That has brewed unprecedented furor amongst hardcore users and detracted from Reddit’s effectiveness for more casual users, too.

Huffman’s internal memo reportedly discussed improving Reddit and “upcoming critical mod tool launches.” He needs to add “restoring community faith” to the list.

Where does Reddit go from here?

Reddit might bounce back from all this drama, of course. Though there are still thousands of subreddits protesting, controversies can blow over—but it would be dangerous to assume that will necessarily be the case.

So what could Reddit do to restore love lost? The r/ModCoord mods told us that Reddit should give everyone more time for adjustment—six months, if not a full year.

During that time, Reddit could hear recommendations from “a working group, made up of a cross-section of moderators, users with disabilities, [and] third-party app makers,” Maharaj advised. Reddit wouldn’t have to accept all the recommendations, “but a demonstrated willingness to try to accommodate the legitimate concerns of the community would do a great deal to restore the confidence of the community,” he said.