These changes could ruin third-party apps users rely on for a valuable Reddit experience, such as those moderators use to keep subreddits safe for members from harmful content and spam.<\/p>\n
Because Reddit moderators control user access to the content within the subreddit communities they manage, they could voice their disagreement with the upcoming API changes in a unique way.<\/p>\n
But after June 14, hundreds of popular subreddits will continue the Reddit boycott indefinitely. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
300+ Subreddits Extend Reddit Boycott After Leaked Memo<\/h2>\n
According to a new post<\/a> on r\/ModCoord, over 300 subreddits \u2013 including several with upwards of 34 million members \u2013 announced the intent to stay private until Reddit re-evaluates its decision to change the API.<\/p>\n The extended protest may come as a response to a leaked memo<\/a> reportedly from Reddit CEO Huffman. The memo attempted to reassure employees that things would return to normal after Wednesday.<\/p>\n We have not seen any significant revenue impact so far and we will continue to monitor.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It also reaffirmed Reddit\u2019s commitment to rolling out the new API changes, regardless of the resulting \u201cnoise.\u201d<\/p>\n The most important things we can do right now are stay focused, adapt to challenges, and keep moving forward. We absolutely must ship what we said we would. The only long term solution is improving our product, and in the short term we have a few upcoming critical mod tool launches we need to nail.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Eerily, the memo ended with a warning:<\/p>\n I am sorry to say this, but please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public. Some folks are really upset, and we don\u2019t want you to be the object of their frustrations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In a post<\/a> from r\/Save3rdPartyApps, moderators listed their demands, alternative social networks to join, a list of participating subreddits, and directions on how to make your subreddit private.<\/p>\n The demands for Reddit to consider regarding the API included the following:<\/p>\n According to a post<\/a> from r\/ModCoord, over 28k moderators from over 7k subreddits (90% of the communities on Reddit) are participating. Some communities, like r\/Science and r\/todayilearned, have over 30 million members each.<\/p>\n Subreddits, including r\/bigSEO<\/a>, displayed messages like the following to let members know what was happening.<\/p>\n John Mueller, Google Search Analyst, commented supporting the protest and called Reddit\u2019s pricing and communication about the API changes \u201cdisappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n Subreddit moderators posted bulletins to their Reddit communities, websites, and other social platforms to state their intent to support third-party apps.<\/p>\n I moderate the \/r\/reactjs subreddit. I just posted an announcement that we’ll be shutting down the sub June 12-14 to join the protest against Reddit’s API pricing changes and killing of 3rd-party apps:https:\/\/t.co\/ISmKo33WFb<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mark Erikson (@acemarke) June 9, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As the subreddit blackout begins, I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to the Reddit community and everyone standing up ❤️ Let’s hope Reddit listens https:\/\/t.co\/h6cSYTBZhH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Christian Selig (@ChristianSelig) June 12, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Some subreddits chose different ways to show support without being completely inaccessible, like r\/games<\/a>, that decided to go into restricted mode instead.<\/p>\n Reddit users turned to other social networks to voice their disappointment over losing their favorite subreddits.<\/p>\n I never considered how devastating this whole reddit blackout is for troubleshooting. So many helpful answers just gone overnight pic.twitter.com\/V5RVUy1Lpn<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Bob Wulff _(\u2510\u300c\u03b5:)_\u1dbbzZ (@BobWulff) June 14, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Will private subreddits drop from Google search results? Patrick Stox, a moderator of r\/TechSEO, noticed that private subreddits have <meta name=\u201drobots\u201d content=\u201dnoindex,nofollow\u201d\/> <\/em>on their page headers.<\/p>\n Uh oh, this isn’t good for @reddit<\/a>. The pages from the protesting communities are going to start dropping out of search engines because of this noindex tag.<\/p>\n It’s going to be interesting to see the traffic impact of this. pic.twitter.com\/unZ0ytUd5Z<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Patrick Stox (@patrickstox) June 12, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In addition to participating subreddits closing their doors, portions of Reddit went down during the first morning of the protest, with tens of thousands of users in the United States reporting outages via DownDetector<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the main portion of Reddit resumed working, many users are still confused about whether Reddit is down or if they were banned from their favorite communities because they suddenly became unavailable.<\/p>\n An attempt<\/a> from Reddit CEO Steve Huffman to address the community\u2019s concerns over API changes a few days before the protest did not prevent moderators from carrying out the plans for a shutdown.<\/p>\n In the post, Huffman stated that Reddit needed to become a self-sustaining business and could no longer subsidize high data usage by commercial third-party apps.<\/p>\n He shared the following points about what moderators and developers could expect.<\/p>\n Huffman acknowledged the moderators\u2019 frustrations and said he respected the communities that took action to highlight their needs, including going private.<\/p>\n The Reddit boycott, sparked by the proposed changes to Reddit\u2019s API and the subsequent pricing model, demonstrated the profound interconnectedness of Reddit\u2019s ecosystem, in which third-party applications play a pivotal role.<\/p>\n It also revealed a potential problem with Reddit\u2019s business strategy: the exclusion of key stakeholders, namely third-party developers and community moderators, from decision-making processes.<\/p>\n The proposed changes pose a significant challenge to Reddit, threatening its essence as a democratic and accessible platform. The demands made by moderators during the protest indicate an urgent need for Reddit to reevaluate its strategies concerning third-party apps, considering the viability of these apps and the communities they serve.<\/p>\n Despite assurances from the CEO of Reddit that most apps would not be affected and specific beneficial changes would be implemented, the widespread dissatisfaction and protest actions suggest a communication and trust gap between Reddit\u2019s management and its user base.<\/p>\n This situation underscores the importance of transparent and inclusive decision-making in tech companies, particularly those providing community interaction platforms.<\/p>\n As Reddit navigates the choppy waters of these changes, it will need to consider the interdependencies of its ecosystem carefully. Reddit\u2019s future will likely depend on its ability to balance commercial viability and preserve the democratic and open nature that has defined the platform.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the event underscores that community-driven platforms like Reddit are powered by more than just algorithms and APIs \u2013 they are powered by people, their needs, their creativity, and their desire for a shared digital space.<\/p>\n Featured image: oasisamuel\/Shutterstock<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Is](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/is-reddit-down-subreddit-moderators-extend-boycott-indefinitely-after-leaked-memo-via-sejournal-kristileilani.png\")
Screenshot from Reddit, June 2023<\/span><\/div>\n\n
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What Is The Reddit Protest About?<\/h2>\n
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![\"Is](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/is-reddit-down-subreddit-moderators-extend-boycott-indefinitely-after-leaked-memo-via-sejournal-kristileilani-1.png\")
Screenshot from reddark.untone.uk, June 2023<\/span><\/div>\n![\"private](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/is-reddit-down-subreddit-moderators-extend-boycott-indefinitely-after-leaked-memo-via-sejournal-kristileilani-2.png\")
Screenshot from Reddit, June 2023<\/span><\/div>\n![\"Is](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/is-reddit-down-subreddit-moderators-extend-boycott-indefinitely-after-leaked-memo-via-sejournal-kristileilani-3.png\")
Screenshot from Reddit, June 2023<\/span><\/div>\n![\"Is](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/is-reddit-down-subreddit-moderators-extend-boycott-indefinitely-after-leaked-memo-via-sejournal-kristileilani-4.png\")
Screenshot from Reddit\/Internet Archives, June 2023<\/span><\/div>\n![\"Is](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/is-reddit-down-subreddit-moderators-extend-boycott-indefinitely-after-leaked-memo-via-sejournal-kristileilani-5.png\")
Screenshot from AskHistorians.com, June 2023<\/span><\/div>\n\n
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How The Reddit Boycott Affected Users<\/h2>\n
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How The Reddit Boycott Could Affect Organic Search Traffic<\/h2>\n
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Is Reddit Down? Early Stages Of Boycott Shut Down Reddit Homepage<\/h2>\n
![\"is](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/is-reddit-down-subreddit-moderators-extend-boycott-indefinitely-after-leaked-memo-via-sejournal-kristileilani-6.png\")
Screenshot from Reddit\/DownDetector, June 2023<\/span><\/div>\nA Failed Attempt To Address Concerns About Reddit API Changes<\/h2>\n
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The Challenges Of Reddit Moving Forward With API Changes<\/h2>\n
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