Reddit community moderators made a bold move earlier this month that caused quite a stir online. They took a stand against the platform’s decision to charge certain developers for access to its valuable data, which many found controversial.
On June 12, moderators responsible for managing thousands of subreddits, which are communities on the platform, protested against Reddit’s decision to charge developers for accessing data through its API. In a display of opposition, they made their communities private and restricted, leading to a “blackout” movement that briefly caused Reddit to go down.
The fallout from the protest was evident as users retreated and started to ignore the platform, widely known as the “front page of the internet.” According to data from web traffic analysis firm Similarweb, daily traffic on Reddit dropped by about 7%, and the amount of time people spent on the website decreased by close to 16% between June 12 and 13. The criticism from community moderators and users also resulted in a decline in daily visits to Reddit’s ad portal, affecting advertisers’ ability to target their audience and run promotional campaigns.
In April, Reddit had announced its plans to charge developers for accessing data through its API. While the move aimed to restrict third parties from accessing Reddit data for text-generating machine learning models, it caused difficulties for third-party apps and developers. Popular Reddit client Apollo and other apps found it challenging to pay for the charges and decided to go offline. Subreddit moderators rallied in support of these apps and developers, joining the protest against the API pricing move.
However, more recent statistics indicate that the negative impacts on Reddit’s daily traffic and average time spent on the platform have improved. Similarweb’s data shows that on June 23, the platform experienced an average time spent of 8.37 minutes and close to 55 million visits.
The protest by Reddit community moderators showcased their collective power and the influence they have over the platform’s user base. While the initial downturn was temporary, it serves as a reminder that the Reddit community remains vigilant and ready to voice their concerns when they feel the platform’s decisions impede their experiences.
