Mashable: Reddit is trying to make nice with its moderators. They aren’t buying it . “Reddit has reached out to its moderators, declaring that while their relationship has been ‘tested,’ it’s ready to work on it and move forward from here. In response, the mods told them to go pound sand.”
Engadget: Apollo and other popular third-party Reddit apps have shut down. “Several popular third-party Reddit apps are no longer operational, while a few have chosen to charge users for access, now that the website’s new API rules are in effect. In a lengthy post bidding farewell, Apollo founder Christian Selig said Reddit pulled the plug a little too early, cutting off the app’s access to content on the website.”
The Verge: Reddit is telling protesting mods their communities ‘will not’ stay private. “Reddit is pressuring moderators who have set their subreddits to private to reopen their communities this week, according to messages seen by The Verge. The company has given moderators deadlines to lay out their plans for reopening but said that they can’t stay closed.”
Columbia Journalism Review: Reddit goes to war with its volunteer moderators. “…even if Huffman is right, and the ‘going dark’ protests prove a flash in the pan, the company’s drive for profitability will likely change the nature of the site and its communities, perhaps irrevocably, as seems to be happening at Musk’s Twitter. What emerges may be better for investors (although that is still very much an open question). But it could be worse for users.”
WIRED: The Reddit Blackout Is Breaking Reddit. “IT’S PRETTY EASY to piss people off on Reddit. Less so to piss off seemingly everyone on the platform. Still, Reddit’s management has succeeded in doing just that as it weathers protests over its decision to charge for access to its API. That ruling risks putting the company in a death spiral as users revolt, the most dedicated community caretakers quit, and the vibrant discussions move to other platforms.”
Business Insider: People are starting to place bets on Reddit’s civil war. “As the blackout protests on Reddit continue, the battle is starting to attract attention from spectators who are betting on how it might play out. Hundreds of people are putting money on whether the company will back-track on its new API pricing policy or oust its CEO Steve Huffman, BetUS told Insider.”
NBC News: Reddit CEO praises Elon Musk’s cost-cutting as protests rock the platform. “In an interview Thursday with NBC News, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman praised Musk’s aggressive cost-cutting and layoffs at Twitter, and said he had chatted ‘a handful of times’ with Musk on the subject of running an internet platform.”
Engadget: Reddit CEO Steve Huffman defends API changes in AMA. “Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has finally spoken publicly about the company’s deeply unpopular API changes that have resulted in some of the most-used third-party reddit apps saying they will be forced to shut down. In an AMA (Ask Me Anything) discussion, Huffman promised improvements to Reddit’s own app, but seemed unwilling to make concessions on pricing and other issues that have rankled the community.”
British GQ: Why Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is finally going public – and thinks TikTok should be banned. “If Facebook was founded as a means to get Harvard students laid and Twitter started out as a group text service, then ‘the front-page of the internet’ was made so that the 57 million people who now use it every day can decide what’s important to them.”
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