Why Your Favorite Subreddits Are Going Down on June 12th [Updated]

Thousands of subreddits went offline today. These include communities on Reddit ranging from r/funny (with over 40 million followers) to r/EatCheapandHealthy, one of our favorites here at Lifehacker . At least 7,000 subreddits have joined the protest so far, which begins today and could continue in some form beyond June 14 if Reddit admins refuse to reverse the company’s recent decision.

Update June 12, 2023 10:15 AM: We posted about this outage as it approached, and subscribers are now disconnected as promised. We have updated the post you are reading with the latest information. For more information on what to expect as a user, this post from r/help describes what you’ll see. Please note that your profile and notifications will not have anything from participating subscriptions during the lockdown. Reddit will allow you to send messages to the moderators of each subscription on the screen where you see it closed, but don’t expect them to respond or grant you access.

The site is also experiencing technical issues; when I updated this part, I got “messages not loading” errors intermittently. It is not clear if these problems are related to power outages.

What are they protesting?

Reddit recently announced that they will start charging third party apps to access their API. The API is what makes apps like Apollo and Rif possible: when you use the app, it calls Reddit to get the data it needs to display on the screen. We have already highlighted several such applications ; they make Reddit more rewarding and enjoyable to participate in.

Paying for API access isn’t necessarily a crazy idea, but the pricing scheme announced by Reddit is out of reach for many developers. The developer of one popular app, Apollo, said it would cost $20 million a year . “I hope it goes without saying that I don’t have that kind of money and I don’t even know how to withdraw it from a credit card.” (This developer announced today that the app will close on June 30th and explained the financial and technology situation in detail here .)

Some of the popular third-party apps predate Reddit’s own mobile app, which launched in 2016. The Reddit app is generally considered buggy and annoying, hence the continued popularity of these mobile apps. The developers noted that not only does Reddit plan to charge relatively high fees to third-party apps, but its new terms also reportedly ban in-app ads , which could help offset costs.

The company announced new pricing in just a few months, which isn’t necessarily enough time for developers to completely change their business model. He also did not back down, despite the resistance of the developers and other Reddit users. Reddit also appears to be in financial trouble as it plans to lay off 5% of its workforce . Redditors have speculated that the company’s recent decisions may be related to a planned IPO later this year .

API changes can affect the site even if you never use third party applications.

If you’re not using third-party Reddit reader apps, this might not seem like such a big deal. But these apps aren’t the only tools using the Reddit API.

“This Reddit move will make r/Blind moderation impossible,” notes one mod, because many of its moderators are visually impaired and use API-dependent screen readers. And they’re not the only moderators who rely on third-party tools to get their job done.

Reddit moderators are not paid by the company, but are users who manage subreddits, removing spam and applying rules specific to each community. It is thanks to these moderators that the subreddits are as useful as they are. Moderators remove off-topic posts, remove disrespectful or disrespectful users, and ensure that nudity posted on porn subscriptions is consensual, just to name a few of their responsibilities.

Moderators use a wide range of third-party tools to do their (unpaid) work. There are browser extensions for tracking users, bots for flagging spam or sending reminders, and more. If moderation tools disappear, Reddit will become much less readable. Moderators will also not be able to do their jobs, and many will likely resign in desperation.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman (who goes by the alias u/spez) says that “About 3% of mods come from third party apps, and we’ve reached out to communities that moderate almost exclusively through those apps to make sure we’re meeting their needs.” “. “. He also said that many of the existing third-party moderation tools would not be affected by the proposed API changes, but moderators are understandably still concerned about their future ability to use the tools of their choice.

Since the company makes money from free content and moderation, there was speculation that the API changes, if implemented as planned, could spell the death of Reddit.

What sites are being disabled and how can I find out more?

Now that the outage has begun, the easiest way to find out if your favorite is participating is to simply try to access it. If you’re getting a message that a previously public subscription is “a private community” it means you’ve been banned. Here is an “incomplete and growing” list of subreddits that have declared their intention to participate , with the most popular subs listed first. In total, there are already more than 15,000 sites on board.

Subscribers who join the protest will be unavailable for 48 hours starting Monday, June 12th. These protests are usually held by a private subscriber, which means that only users on a specific list will be allowed access. For most subscriptions, this list remains almost empty, so it effectively closes the subscription to the general public and its regular users.

Some subwoofers only plan to shut down for those 48 hours; others may stay in the shadows longer to put pressure on Reddit, either in a completely private mode or a restricted mode that allows users to read but not post. The last time the subreddits united for such a protest was because Reddit hired a controversial employee. After that, the worker was fired .

The Explain It Like I’m Five subprogram is designed to serve as a place for people to learn about the power outage, even as it continues. Here is their explanation of what is happening and why. During the lockdown, new messages will not be allowed, but this clarification (and possibly new information) will still be available. The user account u/why_subs_went_dark and the subreddit r/ModCoord were created by the organizers of the protest and are worth keeping an eye on as well. To learn more about the Reddit version, CEO Huffman answered questions in the AMA (Ask Me Anything) here .