Reddit’s users and moderators are revolting against its CEO

The version of Reddit we’ll see over the next few days may just be a shell of itself. Hundreds of subreddits have pledged to go dark, with thousands more planning to follow suit.

There is a backlash over API changes that will force many third-party apps, like Apollo and RIF Reddit for fun, to shut down. Frustration was already brewing in the community as developers began reacting to the changes, but Reddit CEO Steve Huffman’s responses in recent days haven’t calmed things down.

In a Reddit AMA on Friday, Huffman was met with universal anger. There were a lot of F-bombs from the commenters. A Very Of People called His a coward. If there are positive comments, I didn’t find them.

Before r/video went private today, this Mods wrote that Huffman’s AMA performance was “a collage of inappropriate responses” and that Reddit’s CEO appears to have intentionally misconstrued the company’s conversation with Apollo developer Christian Selig, he said he heard Huffman tell moderators that Selig attempted to threaten the company over the phone call. However, Selig posted a recording proving the “danger” was cleared as a misunderstanding while they were still on call.

Mods, developers, and all have said that Huffman and the other leaders are “liars”, accusing them of ignoring the big questions, even though they had the most upvotes, and only answering the easy ones. According to Post this on r/ModCoordThe protest will end when Reddit addresses issues with the API that excludes third-party apps, accessibility for blind people, and “equality in access to NSFW content”.

The biggest complaints are about how Reddit’s leadership has, or hasn’t, communicated the details of changes to its API pricing or upcoming restrictions, such as preventing third-party apps from showing NSFW content that the site can access. But can already be seen. ReddPlanet developer Tony Lupesky said it was a “blatant lie” As Huffman wrote, Reddit leadership was keeping communication open with affected third-party developers. “This is not an answer and you know it,” said the user anacharsis for the same huffman answer,

when the moderator marari 01 asked Why the site didn’t make sure to check new changes with users and moderators, Huffman the company said “Began sharing this information in April.” Some reactions pointed to an earlier announcement No pricing information included And details omitted Like banning third-party apps showing NSFW content.

a user pointed to a post on r/history listing time reddit reneged on promises,

Since the AMA, some subreddits have amplified their response. Moderator on r/iPhone posted this morning That his original plan was to go dark for just 48 hours, but Huffman’s behavior changed his mind:

Originally, the protest was planned to last 48 hours. However, after an embarrassing AMA conducted by Reddit’s CEO, it has become clear to us that Reddit does not intend to act in good faith. When the CEO is willing to spread lies and libelous claims about another third-party developer, and try again double down That’s when we got to know what we were up against, by abusing him again in the AMA, despite being proven false by the developer via audio recording.

Many subreddits that are shutting down say that they will only do so for 48 hours. But some are set to shut down indefinitely, including r/Music, a default membership for new accounts and one of the largest subreddits on the site. the mods in that community put it right in the title after announcing their participationWhich says it will be closed starting June 12th “unless Reddit rolls back the change to their API policy.”

r/iphonewhich has 3.8 million users, echoed r/Music’s sentiment, saying, “In the (somewhat unlikely) scenario that there is a change in direction of Reddit’s leadership given the recent API policy change, we Will reopen the subreddit. , r/gaming says Its shutdown will start on the 12th, and will be set to “Private for 48 hours or more”.

At the time of publication, a pinned bot post on the r/ModCoord sub post about protest says while nearly 4,500 communities are pledging to go dark reddarkA site tracking protest subreddits says there are already over 200,