wp-plugin-hostgator domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114ol-scrapes domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Source:https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/06\/16\/reddit-ceo-lashes-out-on-protests-moderators-and-third-party-apps\/<\/a><\/br> Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is not backing down amid protests against API changes<\/a> made by the platform. In interviews with The Verge<\/a>, NBCNews<\/a>\u00a0and NPR<\/a>, Huffman defended business decisions made by the company to charge third-party apps saying the API wasn\u2019t designed to support these clients.<\/p>\n The Reddit co-founder also talked about protesting moderators, changing site rules, and profitability in these interviews. The platform is facing one of the strongest backlashes from the community, but the CEO seemingly doesn\u2019t want to budge.<\/p>\n In April, Reddit announced that it is going to charge for its API, but didn\u2019t announce any pricing. Earlier this month, Christian Selig, the developer of a popular Reddit client for iOS called Apollo, posted that he had a call with Reddit. API pricing quoted by them could cost him $20 million a year to run the app<\/a>. Selig later said that, because the social network is not ready to make any changes to the pricing structure, he is forced to shut down Apollo. Other third-party developers of clients like Reddit is Fun and Relay for Reddit also said that they will shut down their apps on June 30.<\/p>\n The only exception Reddit made was to allow free access to the API to non-commercial apps providing accessibility features<\/a>. The company has made deals with apps like RedReader, Dystopia, and Luna and given them exemptions from its \u201clarge-scale pricing terms.\u201d<\/p>\n Thousands of subreddits went dark starting June 12 to protest those changes \u2014 it caused a brief outage as well. Meanwhile, Huffman took a strong stance in his AMA<\/a> and took a dig at Apollo and Selig. As moderators didn\u2019t see anything changing, many subreddits decided to extend the blackout<\/a>.<\/p>\n In one of the interviews, Huffman even called protesting moderators \u201clanded gentry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a politician or a business owner, you are accountable to your constituents. So a politician needs to be elected, and a business owner can be fired by its shareholders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I think, on Reddit, the analogy is closer to the landed gentry: The people who get there first get to stay there and pass it down to their descendants, and that is not democratic.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that he plans to make changes to moderator policies so users can vote them out. Currently<\/a>, a higher-ranking moderator \u2014 or the company \u2014 can boot out moderators. Incidentally, a r\/Apple moderator posted on Twitter (via 9to5Mac<\/a>) that Reddit was threatening to remove moderators who are staging an indefinite blackout.<\/p>\n In a blog post published by Reddit, the company links to its Moderator Code of Conduct<\/a> while saying \u201cDissent, debate, and discussions are foundational parts of Reddit\u201d and it respects the right to protests. However, the rules state that the company can remove moderators if they are uncooperative.<\/p>\n Despite these statements, Huffman said that Reddit wasn\u2019t going to invest in paid moderators within the company or make decisions that centralize power.<\/p>\n That indicates that the company is happy to have unpaid moderators monitor and maintain the communities. A study<\/a> published last year estimated that they spend 466 hours per day on maintaining these communities. It said that if Reddit paid them $20 per hour, it would cost them $3.4 million annually.<\/p>\n A major issue in focus during these protests has been the existence of third-party apps. Time and time Reddit has said that it will still offer free access to the data API \u2014 and the majority of the apps, like bots, won\u2019t have to pay as they are not commercialized.<\/p>\n In the past few weeks, Huffman has talked about commercialization and making Reddit profitable. One of the steps of this process involves charging for the API. In the latest set of interviews, he said that Reddit is \u201cperfectly willing to work with the folks who want to work with us\u201d and talk about giving developers a longer transition period. Huffman\u2019s gripe is that some of these apps make millions every year using Reddit\u2019s data, and the company has to bear infrastructure costs of up to $10 million every year, he told The Verge<\/a>.<\/p>\n He told the publication that he was the person inside the company who was responsible for this policy change that affect these apps. Seemingly, the company has been discussing changes in API rules for years.<\/p>\n \u201c[Reddit\u2019s API] was never designed to support third-party apps. We let it exist. And I should take the blame for that because I was the guy arguing for that for a long time. But I didn\u2019t know \u2014 and this is my fault \u2014 the extent that they were profiting off of our API. That these were not charities,\u201d Huffman said.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Reddit posted a blog post<\/a> indicating that 80% of the top 5,000 communities in terms of daily active users are now open. Huffman told NPR<\/a> that protestors are a \u201csmall group that\u2019s very upset\u201d and the \u201cgreater Reddit community\u201d is participating to support them.<\/p>\n He added that, despite these protests causing \u201ca fair amount of trouble,\u201d there wasn\u2019t a significant effect on the company\u2019s revenue. However, reports<\/a> suggested that some advertisers had paused campaigns during the blackout. The company has been pushing out more ad tools<\/a> to attract advertisers.<\/p>\n On the impact of third-party apps being shut down, Huffman said 97% of people use Reddit\u2019s site or official app to access the platform \u2014 the company has a daily active user base of 57 million. The blog post<\/a> also mentioned that 93% of moderator actions are taken through Reddit\u2019s own tools and the company has promised to add more features to them. The post and Huffman\u2019s comments are trying to indicate that protests are led by only a small set of users and don\u2019t represent the sentiments of a larger user base.<\/p>\n While there have been talks about Reddit going public, the CEO is focused on profitability first. He told The Verge that an IPO is \u201csomething we\u2019d like to do someday\u201d but there were \u201ca few things I\u2019d like to do with Reddit before we get there.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to Huffman\u2019s comments, moderators are trying to find ways to make blackouts effective. Alternatively, some communities are also setting up servers<\/a> on alternative sites like Lemmy<\/a> and Kbin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br><\/br><\/br><\/p>\n
\nReddit CEO lashes out on protests, moderators and third-party apps<\/br>
\n2023-06-17 21:55:56<\/br><\/p>\nWhat\u2019s happening at Reddit?<\/h2>\n
Protests and moderators<\/h2>\n
Third-party apps<\/h2>\n
The numbers game<\/h2>\n