Reddit Communities to go ‘Dark’ in Protest Against Changes

Beginning from June 12, the reddit ‘going dark’ protest has started in response to the API pricing increase that will affect all third-party clients on the platform

Dozens of Reddit communities have joined hands in protest against the platform’s API pricing increase, affecting third-party clients. The several dozen communities or ‘Sub-reddits’ have announced that they will be ‘going dark’ after June 12.

Here the word ‘going dark’ means to completely leave the platform for one or two days or even forever if Reddit refuses to change its new API pricing.

Determined to change Reddit’s new policy, users are going as far as asking other redditors to join them in their ‘going dark’ protest and even leaving negative reviews about the application on the Google Play and Apple Stores.

Some of the most famous third party applications on Reddit; Apollo, Narwhal and Reddit is Fun are used and loved by millions of Reddit users, however these platforms have now announced that they will no longer be able to afford the massive API fees being charged by Reddit and might have to shut down.

Christian Selig, the founder and owner of Apollo says that the Reddit API will now cost him around $20 million.

Such heavy API charges might force almost all of these highly sought after third party applications to leave the platform, but it seems that Redditors are not ready to let them go and will fight for them to stay on the platform.

High prices is not the only problem being faced by third-party application owners since they are also complaining that the new API structure prevents displaying not-safe-for-work content (NSFW) and limit advertisements, therefore limiting the revenue for all third party applications.