Apple Subreddit Goes Dark in Protest of Reddit's API Pricing Changes

Apple-related subreddit /r/apple has gone dark in protest of Reddit's upcoming API pricing changes affecting third-party Reddit apps. The subreddit is now private, meaning that users can no longer view or submit posts, and the moderators behind the community said it will remain that way for the next 48 hours, or potentially longer if necessary.

General Apps Reddit Feature
/r/apple is one of many subreddits that will be going dark over the next few days, alongside /r/videos, /r/gaming, /r/sports, /r/aww, and others. The organized blackout comes after Reddit announced expensive API pricing changes that threaten to put some third-party Reddit apps out of business. Christian Selig, developer of popular Reddit app Apollo, said he would owe Reddit around $20 million per year under the new policy. As a result, Selig announced that Apollo will be shutting down at the end of the month.

Reddit's API provides apps like Apollo with Reddit data like posts and comments, and it has been free to use until now. Selig said it is understandable for Reddit to begin charging for access to the API, but the pricing is prohibitively expensive. Selig also said Reddit provided him with minimal time to prepare for the changes.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman addressed the topic in a Reddit post last week, but his comments were heavily criticized and received thousands of downvotes from Reddit users. Despite backlash from the community, Reddit has yet to reverse course on its plans so far, and the API changes are set to go into effect on July 1 if upheld.

Tags: Apollo, Reddit

Top Rated Comments

stephen1108 Avatar
16 weeks ago
Good. I'm team Apollo! It actually makes Reddit usable for me.
Score: 98 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eatrains Avatar
16 weeks ago
Hopefully all these 48 hour protests turn indefinite. The users make Reddit what it is and Steve Huffman is trying to kill it for a quick buck.
Score: 71 Votes (Like | Disagree)
canadianreader Avatar
16 weeks ago
I support this. Without users posting content there's no Reddit.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Longplays Avatar
16 weeks ago
A lot of MR articles get submitted on r/Apple. It drives a lot of click traffic.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jdavid_rp Avatar
16 weeks ago
Let's hope this works. Everytime a protest like this fails, it make them look more and more insignificant to big companies
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Stefan51278 Avatar
16 weeks ago
Maybe you really shouldn't anger your user-base when running a page a page solely driven by user-generated and user-moderated content, should you?
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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