Ever since Reddit announced to raise the price to access their API from being free to a sizeable amount, a lot subreddits have been staging protests on Reddit.
According to media reports, more than 8,000 subreddits have already gone private, making it impossible for millions of users to access their favorite subreddit on Reddit.
Notably, the development has been in works since April 2023 when Reddit announced that third party tools will have to pay a hefty price from July 2023 to access their API.
Also Read > Reddit Blackout Tracker
According to The Indian Express Report, developers using Reddit API will have to pay $0.25 for every 1,000 API or less than $1 per user every month.
Apollo — one of the most popular third-party tools on Reddit — has said that with their current usage, they will have to pay over $20 million a year.
With this amount, it is not possible for Apollo to continue offering the service.
It has been more than a day since the majority of subreddits are dark or private, a lot of Reddit users are currently asking, ‘Has Reddit responded to the Blackout’?
Also Read > How To Send Reddit Private Community Message
If you are one of those users then don’t worry, we have got you covered.
Has Reddit CEO Responded To Reddit Blackout?
Yes, the answer is YES. The CEO of Reddit named Steve Huffman sent an internal memo to Reddit Staff.
In an internal memo, Huffman addressed the ongoing Reddit Blackout.
In the internel memo which was obtained by The Verge, Steve Huffman said that they have not noticed a significant revenue lose with the ongoign Reddit Blackoout and anticipated that the majority of subreddits will come back online by Wednesday.
As mentioend above, more than 8,000 Reddit Communities have gone private in solidarity with the ongoing protest.
Also Read > How to View Deleted Reddit Posts
Many Reddit communities are most likely to open up again from Wednesday while many are considering to stay private indefinitely until Reddit back off.
You can read the full internal memo from Reddit CEO Steve Huffman here:
Hi Snoos,
Starting last night, about a thousand subreddits have gone private. We do anticipate many of them will come back by Wednesday, as many have said as much. While we knew this was coming, it is a challenge nevertheless and we have our work cut out for us. A number of Snoos have been working around the clock, adapting to infrastructure strains, engaging with communities, and responding to the myriad of issues related to this blackout. Thank you, team.
We have not seen any significant revenue impact so far and we will continue to monitor.
There’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we’ve seen. Please know that our teams are on it, and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well. 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.
While the two biggest third-party apps, Apollo and RIF, along with a couple others, have said they plan to shut down at the end of the month, we are still in conversation with some of the others. And as I mentioned in my post last week, we will exempt accessibility-focused apps and so far have agreements with RedReader and Dystopia.
I am sorry to say this, but please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public. Some folks are really upset, and we don’t want you to be the object of their frustrations.
Again, we’ll get through it. Thank you to all of you for helping us do so.
That’s all you need to know about what Reddit CEO has said about the ongoing Reddit Blackout.