Reddit, one of the largest forum websites on the internet, has been rocked by a wave of community protests due to a recent change in its Application Programing Interface (API) policy, The Verge reports. Reddit has decided to charge high rates for developers to use APIs, making many smaller apps unable to continue their operations.
Forum moderators, who rely heavily on these apps to manage comments, have shut off their communities to new access and temporarily erased their post history. They see Reddit’s venture in monetizing developer tools as anticompetitive and hurtful to small tech firms.
Others, though, have criticized these moderators, who often take their role too seriously and act like petty tyrants, banning speech they disagree with. Should moderators continue their strike of holding their sub-forums private, Reddit has reserved the right to remove current moderators and appoint new ones.
This move on Reddit’s part to monetize APIs is not unheard of. Twitter has also started charging high fees to hold a checkmark special checkmark, showing that there is a generalized push to isolate one’s app to maximize profit.
Reddit’s troubles could send it in a spiral if moderators are not contained. Already, new ways to build communities, such as with the app Discord, have been chipping away at Reddit’s market share. It remains to be seen if tech companies can adapt to the current crunch on revenue.
