Reddit’s popular r/Place is back for the third time and was launched on July 20, 2023. It is a collaborative project where individual users come together to edit pixels on a giant canvas.
But the latest version of r/Place is being used to voice a protest against Spez On Reddit. Now, you must be wondering who is Spez on Reddit.
If you really are interested to know who is Sped on Reddit then read on to know everything about him and the reason Redditors are voicing a protest against Spez.
Without any further ado, let’s get started:
Also Read > Pixel War on Reddit
Who Is Spez On Reddit?
Spez is the username of Reddit CEO named Steve Huffman. For the unversed, Steve Huffman is an American web developer and the co-founder and CEO of Reddit.
He is also known by his Reddit username Spez on Reddit. The platform’s users are blaming him for many recent unpopular decisions made on the forum.
Why Are Redditors Angry With Spez?
Spez or Steve Huffman is blamed for the new exorbitantly priced API — Application Programming Interface. The company started charging users a per-usage subscription fee for an API.
This means that users would have to pay to access Reddit’s API. The API has been free for seven years.
While defending the new API rules, Steve Huffman said that Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business. Therefore we cannot subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use.
This move led to many third-party developers being forced to shut down their Reddit-based apps. The biggest third-party app Apollo, shut down on June 30, 2023, as it lost access to the API as per new rules set by Reddit.
The developer behind Apollo for Reddit shared that he will have to pay $20 million per year for API access under these new terms.
Redditors soon joined ranks in support and many of them planned days-long blackout protests to show their anger towards Reddit CEO Steve Huffman aka Spez.
As per BBC, five of the site’s most popular communities — r/gaming, r/aww, r/Music, r/todayilearned, and r/pics took part in the protests. Each of them hosts more than 30 million members apiece.
During that time, phrases such as “praise spez” and “heil spez” (a reference to “heil Hitler”) gained popularity on Reddit.
The titles were used to sarcastically criticize Spez. The phrases soon went viral and multiple posts titled in this manner were seen trending in June and July 2023.
Users turned popular subreddits private and blocked users from accessing them. Reddit issued a warning and asked them to reopen the online communities or face the axe.
Many of the subreddits subsequently reopened but filled some of these re-opened communities with photos of comedian John Oliver.
What Other Rules Passed By Spez Left Redditors Angry?
The other acts of Reddit that left users irked were the termination of the popular Reddit Gold reward system.
While transitioning to a new chat system, Reddit has also removed years of chats and message archives from users’ accounts.
The sudden removal of all chat history sparked an immediate reaction with many protesting against Steve Huffman aka u spez. Now, that collective, collaborative quality is demonstrating itself in a new way on the third instalment of r/place.
Redditors Protest Against Spez on r/Place 2023
Now, with the unveiling of the third instalment of r/Place the protestors have found a new unique way to vent their anger against SPEZ.
They are filling the huge canvas with their grievances against Reddit CEO Steve Huffman — known as “u/spez” on Reddit.
The previous two r/Place events of 2017 and 2022 were widely popular among users. The latest r/Place has been delayed numerous times before its launch on July 20.
But the prior ones were filled with art, flags and more. The latest has the protestors filling it with explicit content against Spez aka Steve Huffman telling Spez, to sc**w off.
Some users have created large repetitions of this phrase while others have shared smaller versions throughout the canvas.
Additionally, near the top surrounded by the German Flaf colours it is written, “u/spez ist ein hurensohn,” which translates to “u/spez is a son of a b**” in German.
We shall soon update you with more on this matter.