Reddit has gone dark as part of a protest — here's what's happening
If you logged onto Reddit on Monday and could not access some forums, it was likely due to a massive protest on the site.
Thousands of communities on the website have gone dark and been set to private mode by moderators as part of the protest.
This includes the r/Canada subreddit, which boasts more than 1.7 million members. “Until midnight on June 13, 2023, r/canada will remain closed,” its page reads.
Several other Canadian subreddits are also participating, such as r/Vancouver, r/Ontario, r/Alberta, and even non-region-specific Canadian forums like r/Rogers and r/CanadaPS5.
Many blacked-out subreddits don’t even have a timeline for how long the protest will last.
While most closed subreddits look like the one above, some have a special message to tell users why the blackout is taking place.
“A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users,” reads the r/Canada forum.
“If you or someone you know has a visual impairment — these changes will also block the tools they use to access Reddit, as the Reddit website and official app are ill-designed and un-equipped to aid those with accessibility issues.”
The protest is in response to Reddit’s new Application Programming Interface (API) policy that forces third-party apps on the platform to pay more money. The website announced in April that changes were coming.
Many developers have created apps that work on Reddit and will now have to pay a much higher price to keep themselves afloat. Users have complained that Reddit’s official app and user interface don’t offer the convenience some of the third-party apps do.
One such app, Apollo for Reddit, announced it would shut down by the end of June.
“Reddit’s recent decisions and actions have unfortunately made it impossible for Apollo to continue,” tweeted Apollo for Reddit creator Christian Selig on Thursday. “Thank you so, so much for all the support over the years.”
Apollo will close down on June 30th. Reddit’s recent decisions and actions have unfortunately made it impossible for Apollo to continue. Thank you so, so much for all the support over the years. ❤️ https://t.co/HOJaLMW8fx
— Christian Selig (@ChristianSelig) June 8, 2023
On Monday morning, Reddit tweeted for the first time since May.
“Identified: We’re aware of problems loading content and are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible,” it said. Several online tools like Down Detector show that Reddit is down for many users.
Identified: We’re aware of problems loading content and are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. https://t.co/nV9P6NLQuY
— Reddit Status (@redditstatus) June 12, 2023
About an hour later, Reddit made a follow-up tweet saying it was observing improvement but did not acknowledge the protest.
“Monitoring: We’re observing improvements across the site and expect the issue to recover for most users,” the official tweet reads. “We will continue to closely monitor the situation. ”
Responses to the tweets are full of criticism. “Maybe Reddit won’t frequently stop working when they’re raking in millions per month in API extortion fees,” one James Wilson wrote.
Maybe Reddit won’t frequently stop working when they’re raking in millions per month in API extortion fees. 🙄
— James Wilson (@djwilso) June 12, 2023
Even other apps didn’t spare them.
“Glad I’m Open Source and designed to support my communities,” Valour App’s official account replied.
I wonder why Reddit is down, and if it’s related to any actions by anyone in particular.
Glad I’m Open Source and designed to support my communities 😎
— Valour (@ValourApp) June 12, 2023
One Twitter user accused the platform of purposefully shutting down to hide and curb the protests.
I think we all know Reddit purposely shut down just now so they can try to hide the protests happening right now and to prevent them from advancing, they currently don’t realize that by doing so they planned their own demise since now everyone in Reddit is participating
— Waifu (@tiktokhanime) June 12, 2023
Others think it’s just funny that it looks like Reddit itself joined the blackout.
Yooooo reddit joins the blackout too? Epic! 😀
— Bone (@Bonecreator_) June 12, 2023
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