Reddit recently announced changes to its application programming interface (API) program, including new fees for third parties who access the company’s tools and data. A measure supposed to regulate access by AI to its precious online corpus. But this has another consequence:
This action will cause some very popular third-party apps used to browse Reddit to be shut down.
In response, more than 7,200 Reddit communities, called subreddits, stopped working. The move, orchestrated by Reddit moderators after communities voted in favor, makes subreddits inaccessible to anyone, including their members.
$20 million per year for API access
Reddit is a social media site that resembles a forum, where members follow online community discussions focused on particular topics. These subreddits can have millions of members. They are inaccessible until tonight.
This protest is the result of outrage over Reddit’s decision to charge millions of dollars for using its API and accessing its data starting July 1. Due to these new charges, several third-party applications, such as Apollo, Sync, and Pager, will shut down due to the inability to afford these new charges.
Apollo app developer Christian Selig said in a Reddit post that the company would likely charge Apollo $20 million per year for API access. “I don’t have that amount and don’t even know how to charge it to a credit card,” he added. Apollo is scheduled to close on June 30.
The AMA quickly turned sour
Although the Reddit site was launched in 2005, the first official Reddit mobile apps for iOS and Android were launched in 2016. Before the official apps were launched, mobile users browsed Reddit through web browsers or third-party apps. Since then, official Reddit apps have added advertising, while most popular third-party apps have not, so many users have preferred to continue using them over the years.
This is where the general outrage and protest of tens of millions of Reddit users arose.
In an AMA last week, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said of Selig, “His demeanor and communications with us have been quite variable – he told us a thing while saying something completely different on the outside, he taped and leaked a private phone call – so much so that I don’t know how we could ever do business with him.”
The AMA quickly turned sour, with Huffman answering less than 15 questions and asking other directors to answer the rest. Selig then commented on this matter in this way: “I asked Reddit if they were flexible on this pricing or not, and they said no”.
This strategic shift in the company is very similar to that made by Twitter after the takeover by Elon Musk. Last January, third-party applications that provided access to the social network were cut for lack of content from the Twitter API.
Source: “ZDNet.com”