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2023 Reddit API controversy

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki

File:Reddit is killing third-party applications.webp
An image posted on many subreddits as protest during the blackout.[1]

In April 2023, the discussion and news aggregation website Reddit announced its intentions to charge for its application programming interface (API), a feature of the site that has existed for free since 2008, causing an ongoing dispute. The move would force multiple third-party applications to shut down, including Apollo, and threatened accessibility applications and moderation tools.

On May 31, Apollo developer Christian Selig stated that Reddit's pricing would force him to cease development on the app. The resulting outcry from the Reddit community ultimately led to a planned protest from June 12 to 14 in which moderators for the site would make their communities private or restricted posting. Following the release of an internal memo from Reddit CEO Steve Huffman and defiance from Reddit, some moderators have continued their protest.[2]

Alternate forms of protest have emerged in the days following the initial blackout. Upon reopening, users of r/pics, r/gifs, and r/aww voted to exclusively post about comedian John Oliver. Multiple subreddits labelled themselves as not safe for work (NSFW), affecting advertisements and resulting in subreddits left without a moderation team. The protest has been compared to a strike.

API changes

Reddit is a news aggregation and discussion website. Posts are organized into "subreddits", individualized user-created boards moderated by users.[3] In 2008, Reddit introduced its application programming interface (API), granting developers access to the site's corpus of posts and comments. Developers have used Reddit's free API to develop moderation tools and third-party applications; the API has also been used to train large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT and Google's chatbot Bard.[4]

File:Web Summit 2017 - Centre Stage Day 2 CG1 7885 (38232183112) (cropped).jpg
Steve Huffman, Reddit's CEO

On April 18, 2023, Reddit announced it would charge for its API service amid a potential initial public offering.[4] Speaking to The New York Times' Mike Isaac, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said, "The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable, but we don't need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free". In spite of those changes, Huffman said that the API would continue to be available for free for developers who create moderation tools or researchers who use Reddit's data for academic purposes.[5] Announcing the changes, Reddit stated that the Reddit data aggregation site Pushshift—whose service was used by LLMs—violated its API rules; the company also said it would restrict access to adult content.[6]

Impact to third-party applications

On May 31, Christian Selig, the developer of the third-party Reddit client Apollo, said that he was quoted US$12,000 for 50 million requests and could be forced to pay US$20 million per year in order to continue to operate. Selig stated that he could not pay Reddit's pricing and was unsure of how to even pay it. Speaking to The Verge, he posed that Reddit's pricing could present an existential risk for Reddit clients such as Reddit is fun (RIF) and Relay.[7]

On June 8, Selig announced that he would shut down Apollo on June 30. In a Reddit post, he alleged that Huffman told employees that Selig was blackmailing the company out of US$10 million; Selig provided audio recordings between himself and a Reddit employee dispelling the claim.[8] His announcement was accompanied by other similar statements, including from RIF developer Andrew Shu, who cited Reddit's "hostile treatment of developers building on their platform" and a high API cost. Other third-party Reddit apps, such as Sync for Reddit and ReddPlanet, have also announced that they will shut down.[9]

Amid concerns that these applications could no longer work, Reddit responded by stating that it would give "non-commercial, accessibility-focused" apps an exception from their pricing terms. A moderator of r/Blind contended that they had received no clarification from Reddit about how it would be defining "accessibility-focused apps". Several third-party applications with extensive accessibility features were later confirmed to be given an exemption as "non-commercial accessibility-focused" applications, including RedReader and Dystopia.[10]

Reddit's reactions

Huffman addressed several of the announced changes to the API service in an Ask Me Anything (AMA). Concerning the changes for third-party apps, he said Reddit could "no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use." He went on to say that Reddit would work to make its mobile app more accessible.[11] Although Huffman claimed Reddit was actively in communication with many third-party application developers to aid in their continued operation, some developers commented that Reddit had not responded to them in months.[12]

Tim Rathschmidt, a spokesperson for Reddit, told The New York Times that Reddit was in contact with communities to "clarify any confusion around our Data API Terms, platform-wide policies, community support resources, and timing for new moderator tools." He added that Reddit "needs to be fairly paid to continue supporting high-usage third-party apps", noting that the new API pricing "is based on usage levels that we measure to be comparable to our own costs".[13]

Subreddit blackout

Through the subreddit r/Save3rdPartyApps, moderators created a centralized forum in which members discussed the changes. In response to Reddit's API changes, multiple subreddits announced that they would be shutting down from June 12 to June 14.[14] Huffman's AMA resulted in some subreddits, including r/polls, going private ahead of the June 12 protest.[15] The moderators of r/iPhone and r/Music decided to go private indefinitely beginning on June 12.[16] Some communities proposed moving to to the messaging service Discord or the Lemmy network of instances in the Fediverse.[17]

On June 12, over 7,000 subreddits went private, including Reddit's largest subreddit, r/funny. Other subreddits that chose to go private include r/aww, r/gaming, and r/science. Some subreddits, such as r/NintendoSwitch, r/Frugal, and r/StarWars, opted to restrict new posts. r/DankMemes allowed users to post, but users may have only posted memes relating to the API changes.[18] At approximately 10:58 a.m. Eastern Time, Reddit was affected by a major outage caused by "expected stability issues" due to the large number of subreddits going private. The outage was resolved hours later.[19] An estimated 8,500 subreddits had gone private or restricted by June 13.[20] Subreddits continued to protest through June 15, while subreddits like r/pics and r/art became restricted.[16] On June 13, The Verge published an internal memo in which Huffman told employees that the protest "will pass".[21] During the initial protests, some subreddits considered staying private indefinitely, including r/aww, r/music and r/videos, which continued to stay private. r/nba tweeted that it would stay private "indefinitely"; the decision to go private coincided with the 2023 NBA Finals.[22] Huffman's internal memo became the primary motivation for more than 5,000 subreddits to continue their blackout indefinitely.[23][2]

On June 15, in the first interview since the blackout began, Huffman told NPR that a "small group" is "very upset". He reiterated that the blackout did not have effects on revenue but "created a fair amount of trouble".[24] Speaking to NBC News, he compared moderators to a "landed gentry" and said that he would be looking into implementing a democratic process to let users vote moderators out.[25] On June 16, The Verge obtained a note Reddit sent to moderators of subreddits that were still private with offers to help remove moderators "hindering reopening", telling the publication that they wanted "mods who want to mod to be able to do so." A Reddit administrator commented that if the moderators' decision to keep the subreddit private was unanimous, Reddit would replace them with a new team of moderators. Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmid later confirmed that moderators may be in violation of Reddit's code of conduct for keeping communities private. Many teams of moderators reopened their subreddits out of fear they would be replaced, such as r/Apple.[26] According to the Associated Press, around 4,000 subreddits were still private by June 16.[27]

Other activities

Alternate forms of protest

File:John Oliver November 2016.jpg
Users of r/pics and r/gifs exclusively posted about comedian John Oliver upon reopening

On June 17, r/pics and r/gifs reopened with a poll on whether or not their respective subreddits should be used to exclusively post about comedian John Oliver. Oliver tweeted his approval and provided pictures for users of r/pics to use. r/aww opened its subreddit a day later, only allowing "adorable content featuring John Oliver, Chiijohn, and anything else that closely resembles them".[28] A subreddit for adult content switched to posting memes in protest as well.[29]

As a form of protest, multiple subreddits began allowing not safe for work (NSFW) content, resulting in an influx of pornography onto some subreddits, such as r/interestingasfuck. The NSFW label prevents companies from running advertisements on these subreddits.[30] On June 20, Reddit began removing moderators who labeled their communities as NSFW. The move, in accordance with Reddit's policies, left r/MildlyInteresting, r/interestingasfuck, r/TIHI, and r/ShittyLifeProTips—subreddits with millions of subscribers—unmoderated.[31]

Data hack

The ransomware group BlackCat threatened to release 80 gigabytes of data if Reddit does not pay US$4.5 million and undo the API changes.[32] Reddit had previously confirmed a security incident that took place in February which compromised "internal documents, code, and some internal business systems." A spokesperson confirmed that BlackCat is related to that February incident.[33]

Reactions

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian tweeted, "Online community-building is more like IRL community-building than people realize", in an apparent reference to the backlash to Reddit's API changes.[34]

Analysis

Columnist Megan McArdle compared Reddit to the nonprofit organization Goodwill and said that the site's moderators have "essentially gone on strike".[35] The Verge reporter Jay Peters noted that the quality of Google Search results decreased, citing the lack of resources for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023), among other grievances.[36]

References

  1. ↑ Grantham-Philips, Wyatte (2023-06-16). "The Reddit blackout, explained: Why thousands of subreddits are protesting third-party app charges". Associated Press. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Serrano, Jody (June 14, 2023). "Subreddits Planning Indefinite Blackout After Reddit CEO's Memo Leaks". Gizmodo. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  3. ↑ Ohlheiser, Abby (November 30, 2016). "Reddit will limit the reach of a pro-Trump board and crack down on its 'most toxic users'". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Shakir, Umar (April 18, 2023). "Reddit's upcoming API changes will make AI companies pony up". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  5. ↑ Isaac, Mike (April 18, 2023). "Reddit Wants to Get Paid for Helping to Teach Big A.I. Systems". The New York Times. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  6. ↑ Koebler, Jason (2023-06-14). "The Reddit Protest Is a Battle for the Soul of the Human Internet". Vice News. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  7. ↑ Roth, Emma (May 31, 2023). "A developer says Reddit could charge him $20 million a year to keep his app working". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  8. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 8, 2023). "Apollo for Reddit is shutting down". The Verge. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  9. ↑ Peters, Jay (2023-06-08). "It's not just Apollo: other Reddit apps are shutting down, too". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  10. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 7, 2023). "Reddit will exempt accessibility-focused apps from its unpopular API pricing changes". The Verge. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  11. ↑ Peters, Jay (2023-06-09). "Reddit won't budge on the API changes that are shutting down apps like Apollo". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  12. ↑ Bell, Karissa. "Reddit CEO Steve Huffman defends API changes in AMA". Engadget. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  13. ↑ Levenson, Michael (June 12, 2023). "Reddit Communities Go Dark to Protest New App Policy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  14. ↑ Porter, Jon (June 5, 2023). "Major Reddit communities will go dark to protest threat to third-party apps". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  15. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 10, 2023). "Some subreddits are already going dark". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Peters, Jay (June 10, 2023). "Thousands of subreddits pledge to go dark after the Reddit CEO's recent remarks". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  17. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citeq at line 53: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value)., Wikidata Q119626980
  18. ↑ Peters, Jay; Porter, Jon (June 12, 2023). "More than 7,000 subreddits have gone dark to protest Reddit's API changes". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  19. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 12, 2023). "Reddit crashed because of the growing subreddit blackout". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  20. ↑ Morrison, Sara (June 14, 2023). "The ongoing Reddit Blackout, explained". Vox. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  21. ↑ Soto, Mia; Peters, Jay (June 13, 2023). "Reddit CEO tells employees that subreddit blackout 'will pass'". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  22. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 13, 2023). "Reddit communities with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  23. ↑ Pequeño, Antonio. "Reddit Blackout Rolls On For More Than 5,000 Subreddits Past Planned End Date—Some Of Which Plan To Stay Dark Indefinitely". Forbes. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  24. ↑ Allyn, Bobby; Inskeep, Steve (June 15, 2023). "Reddit CEO Steve Huffman: 'It's time we grow up and behave like an adult company'". NPR. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  25. ↑ Ingram, David (June 15, 2023). "Reddit CEO slams protest leaders, saying he'll change rules that favor 'landed gentry'". NBC News. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  26. ↑ Peters, Jay; Sato, Mia (June 16, 2023). "Here's the note Reddit sent to moderators threatening them if they don't reopen". The Verge. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  27. ↑ Grantham-Philips, Wyatte (2023-06-16). "Despite widespread protest, Reddit CEO says company is 'not negotiating' on 3rd-party app charges". Associated Press. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  28. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 17, 2023). "Two of the biggest Reddit communities reopened in the funniest way possible". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  29. ↑ Mann, Jyoti. "A NSFW Reddit community is now posting photos of goats in protest of its pricing changes". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  30. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 20, 2023). "Some subreddits are now filled with porn to protest Reddit". The Verge. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  31. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 20, 2023). "Reddit starts removing moderators behind the latest protests". The Verge. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  32. ↑ Sato, Mia (June 19, 2023). "Reddit hackers demand $4.5 million ransom and API pricing changes". The Verge. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  33. ↑ Korn, Jennifer (2023-06-19). "Hackers threaten to leak stolen Reddit data if company doesn't pay $4.5 million and change controversial pricing policy". CNN. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  34. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 10, 2023). "Alexis Ohanian: "Online community-building is more like IRL community-building than people realize. Thing is — most people don't wanna do the work."". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  35. ↑ McArdle, Megan (June 15, 2023). "Reddit followed Goodwill's playbook. Now Redditors are on strike". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  36. ↑ Peters, Jay (June 13, 2023). "Google is getting a lot worse because of the Reddit blackouts". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2023.


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