Following intense backlash after announcing its API pricing, Reddit’s CEO Mike Huffman has commented on the matter by telling employees that the site-wide blackout being enacted by many subreddits will come to pass. The popular platform known for itspop culture and gaming subredditshas gone under fire by users, and the strong criticism has caused some employees to be concerned.
Reddit’s recent decision back in April to begin charging for its API has caused a flood of anger from many users of the platform due to this decision being harmful to many third-party apps. Up until this year Reddit’s API was free, and the choice to start charging for it has not sat right with many users. This choice from Reddit eventually caused moderators and users of thousands of subreddits to go on a blackout as a way to protest the company’s decision. There have beenprevious instances of subreddits protesting, but this is one of the largest organized protests to happen in the site’s history. As of now there are over eight-thousand different subreddits joining in on the blackout, and it’s caused CEO Mike Huffman to officially address the employees of Reddit.
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An official memo obtained by The Verge was sent out to Reddit employees by Huffman regarding the blackout explaining that business must go on as usual despite the protests. Huffman also reassured employees that the protests haven’t done any significant damage to the company’s revenue and “like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well”. There aremany different Reddit communitiestaking a stand against the API pricing, but Huffman’s memo has an unexpected air of optimism regarding the situation.
The memo ended with theunfortunate warning to Redditemployees that it would probably be safest for them to refrain from wearing any company branded gear out in public. Although many of the subreddits are expected to end the blackout by Wednesday, there is no guarantee of this, and Huffman’s memo makes it clear that he believes employees are best off trying to tune out the situation and continue with work as usual.
Huffman seems fairly confident in the memo, but there’s no way of knowing if these blackouts and protests will end quickly or not. The choice to charge for Reddit’s API has hurt various third-party apps, like Apollo for Reddit, and even if some subreddits end their blackouts soon, there will likely be some that protest for as long as they can manage. For many people,Reddit is a place to share art and ideas, but it’s fascinating to watch the site band together in this fashion to make their thoughts known. When it comes to these blackouts, only time will tell how this ultimately affects the company.
