Reddit’s Gone Wild As Users Protest New API Pricing

This is another one of these stories where an organization does something so monumentally wrong, that leaves the vast majority of its userbase just gasping for air. Reddit has managed to seriously piss off the vast majorities of subreddits, moderators and power users, in a move that could be compared to the time where Onlyfans announced they’re banning porn on their platform, before doing a complete 180.

The distinction however, is that Reddit’s FUBAR moment is fueled by corporate greed and is a direct attack at any 3rd party service relying on their API.

In April 2023, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has announced a change in the API pricing, from completely free to $0.24 per 1000 requests. This is a huge spike in the price that will leave apps like Apollo, an enhanced reddit browning mobile app experience, with no choice but to discontinue their service. Free apps like Apollo Reddit is Fun and ReddPlanet, would now have to pay extortionate fees, in the case of Apollo of over $20,000,000 just to serve the reddit content in their free application.

These apps are nowhere close to being able to foot such bill so they’ll have no choice but to shut down.

The move has been met with intense criticism and rightly so. As a result, today marks the first day in the Reddit Blackout — a series of…