Reddit blackout: What is the reason?

The Reddit logo is seen in this image taken on November 7, 2022.  - Reuters
The Reddit logo is seen in this image taken on November 7, 2022. – Reuters

After Reddit announced on May 31 that third-party applications would pay a certain amount, citing fears of the platform going public, protests went private with a 48-hour blackout starting June 12 (today). are doing Out of business.

Going private means that no one outside the community will be able to see their posts.

In response to the announcement, the community outlined three demands focused on Reddit’s application programming interface (API), accessibility for the visually impaired, and access to content deemed inappropriate for work (NSFW).

Reddit is one of the 20 most popular social platforms founded in 2005.

According to a Reddit post, thousands of subreddits are participating in the blackout protest, ranging in size from 5,000 users to over 40 million users.

Forums such as r/todayilearned, r/funny and r/gaming, with more than 30 million subscribers, have signed up to join, while others with more than 1 million members, including r/iPhone and r/unexpected, have already become private. strike call

Cumulatively, it accounts for over 2.6 billion subscribers and over 28,000 operators.

According to A the bbc Report, participating subreddits are becoming private and will not be accessible during the blackout.

The changes will lead to hefty charges for “premium access,” effectively killing off popular third-party Reddit apps like Apollo, which let users browse the site with a customizable interface.

Apollo’s sole developer, Christian Selig, of such apps, estimates that Reddit would need to charge $5 per user per month to pay for the new fee.

But Reddit is another cause of conflict between the social network and AI companies such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which have used big data from the service to train their systems.

“The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable,” said Reddit founder and chief executive Steve Huffman. The New York Times In April.

“But we don’t need to give away all that value to some of the biggest companies in the world for free.”

In a group statement, moderators of the thousands of subreddits that were joining the protest said: “On June 12, many subreddits will go dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others permanently. will be moved on until this issue is resolved. has been adequately addressed as many moderators are unable to work with the poor tools available through the official app.”

The statement added: “This is not a task any of us take lightly: We do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe that this change will make it impossible for us to do what we do.” We will give what we like.”

By uniting in this way, moderators hope to pressure Reddit’s administration to reconsider the new charges and address their concerns.

Blackout shows the importance of third-party apps in enhancing the Reddit user experience and providing additional features not found in the official app.

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