Chicago Reddit users joining nationwide protest
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Beginning Monday, moderators of the Chicago Reddit community are encouraging users to go dark as part of a national protest against price changes the company is enforcing on third-party app developers.
What's happening: Chicago is one of hundreds of subreddits participating in the protest, Axios' Carlie Kollath Wells reports. It stems from Reddit's announcement in May that it would charge developers to access the platform's API.
- Some third-party app creators say they can't afford the higher prices to access the site's back end.
- Critics also claim this will make it harder for subreddit moderators to moderate.
Catch up fast: Reddit launched its Data API in 2008, allowing developers to build third-party moderation apps, games and user utilities that work with Reddit, including those that help the blind and visually impaired community to access the platform.
Yes, but: When the new policy starts July 1, Reddit says it will enforce rate limits on API usage, essentially charging the apps to access the data.
- "We spend multimillions of dollars on hosting fees, and Reddit needs to be fairly paid to continue supporting high-usage third-party apps," Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt tells Axios.
The other side: Developers say the new rules will cost them millions each year and could put them out of business, according to the Verge.
- The "new API pricing makes using anything other than the official app financially unviable," tech influencer Snazzy Labs wrote on Twitter.
Zoom in: The Chicago subreddit, r/chicago, has more than 500,000 members who can help fellow Chicagoans navigate the DMV or gather users' "most Chicago experiences."