If you have been on Reddit recently, you may have seen that a number of previously public subreddits have now gone private. In this guide, we will explain the reason behind this and how you can use the Reddit Blackout Tracker to know which subreddits are private or restricted.
Let us take a closer look at the reasons behind the blackout and how you can track the status of particular subreddits.
What Has Caused The Reddit Blackout?
If you are not a regular Reddit user, you may not be in the loop about the Reddit Blackout. It is a protest against planned changes to the platform’s API.
The dissent started when Reddit announced that it would be updating its API access with a payment wall for third-party apps. As per the Reddit announcement, users will need “premium access for third parties who require additional capabilities and higher usage limits”.
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This has not gone down well with developers of third-party apps as the API pricing would make the apps unprofitable and unsustainable. Developers of third-party apps like Apollo have been very vocal in their protests against these updates.
In fact, Christian Selig, the creator of the Apollo app has announced that the app would be shutting down as of June 30 due to the new API pricing.
This blackout is slated to run from June 12 to June 14, but some mods and communities are planning to continue protesting until “the issue is adequately addressed,” according to the website Save 3rd Party Apps.
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That site is also tracking the blackout status of Reddit’s 250 most-followed subreddits.
How To Use The Reddit Blackout Tracker?
The Reddit Blackout Tracker offers insights into the blackout. It provides a comprehensive list of all the subreddits that have gone private or restricted in response to the announced changes.
The data on the site is updated every 2.5 minutes so that you have the latest updates about the current status of your favorite subreddits. It includes the top 1000 SFW and 500 NSFW most popular subreddits.
Moreover, the site also updates information about private or restricted subreddits that are not related to the current blackout.
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To use this tool, you can simply visit the Reddit Blackout Tracker site. Here, you will see a list of public, private, and restricted subreddits. You can toggle between the SFW and NSFW options to see subreddits from both categories.
In addition, the site also has a column that lists “No longer private subreddits”. These are subreddits that went private for a particular amount of time but then went public again.
How Big Is The Reddit Blackout?
The Reddit blackout is a huge protest with more than 7600 subreddits participating in it. Moreover, the blackout is being backed by some of the largest subreddits on the platform. These include r/funny (49 million subscribers), r/gaming (37 million subscribers), and r/aww (34 million subscribers).
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Gaming-related subreddits have also been participating in the blackout actively. Subreddits like r/zelda, r/PS5, r/Nintendo, r/Fallout, and r/WoW have all supported the protest.
Meanwhile, some subreddits that haven’t gone private, have still shown their support for the Reddit blackout.
For example, the subreddit r/photoshopbattles is usually reserved for prompt-based Photoshop images. However, users are only posting black squares to protest at the moment.
Other subreddits have locked the ability to create new posts or post replies. This is often accompanied by a pinned post explaining and giving out more information about the Reddit blackout.
When the mods set a subreddit to private, the page is no longer accessible to community members. If you land upon a private subreddit, there will be a pop-up notification informing users of its private status.
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This is how you can use the Reddit Blackout Tracker to keep informed about your favorite subreddits. We hope that this guide was helpful to you.