Uncovering the Hidden Reasons Behind Reddit's Private Subreddit Epidemic

The latest update on Reddit has caused an uproar among users and moderators of various communities on the social media platform. Notably, some of the most frequented gaming subreddits have gone private and are rejecting new posts to protest against the new policy.

Reddit is a highly sought-after online hub where people convene to engage in discussions on a broad range of topics, from niche interests to just about anything imaginable. The platform is especially renowned for its gaming communities, which draw in a significant number of users. Given the ardent devotion of Redditors to the site, it comes as a surprise to see many of them threatening to abandon the platform in droves.

On April 18th, Reddit announced a change to its policy on its API (Application Programming Interface), which sparked controversy. For those who are not familiar with programming, API is essential code for a program that can be used by any developer who has access to connect the program that uses the API to something else. The website's API has been free to access until 2023, which has been beneficial for independent communities that use the API to help with moderation or add accessibility features for users who struggle with Reddit's first-party app. However, now Reddit will charge for access to the API, resulting in an ongoing "Reddit Blackout." This is not the first time a subreddit has shut down due to a Reddit policy protest.

While the official post from a site administrator details the change, the response in the comments is overwhelmingly negative. Developers of third-party apps, such as Apollo, say this change will effectively eliminate everything third-party by pricing out developers who make little-to-no money off of their work to develop programs that help many Reddit users. The announcement post also claims that this API change should not impact tools used by subreddit moderators to help with community moderation, but many doubt the truth of this claim. Subreddit moderators, who all work voluntarily under Reddit's funny alien logo, ensure appropriate content within each community.

Numerous subreddits have taken the drastic step of going private in protest of the recent change, rendering them inaccessible for posting new content. While some subreddits have planned to resume normal operations after 48 hours, others have claimed that they will remain private indefinitely until Reddit implements a satisfactory modification to this new policy. In a recent statement, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman defended the change as an effort to transform the website into a "self-sustaining business." This move follows a similar trend where Twitter started charging for API usage and World of Warcraft terminated its Twitter integration.