The Reddit blackout will continue
For those that don&#x27;t want to cross the picket line to read:<p>On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced a policy change that will kill essentially every third-party Reddit app now operating, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader, leaving Reddit&#x27;s official mobile app as the only usable option; an app widely regarded as poor quality, not handicap-accessible, and very difficult to use for moderation.<p>In response, nearly nine thousand subreddits with a combined reach of hundreds of millions of users have made their outrage clear: we blacked out huge portions of Reddit, making national news many, many times over. in the process. What we want is crystal clear.<p>Reddit has budged microscopically. The announcement that moderator access to the &#x27;Pushshift&#x27; data-archiving tool would be restored was welcome. But our core concerns still aren&#x27;t satisfied, and these concessions came prior to the blackout start date; Reddit has been silent since it began.<p>300+ subs have already announced that they are in it for the long haul, prepared to remain private or otherwise inaccessible indefinitely until Reddit provides an adequate solution. These include powerhouses like:<p><pre><code>    &#x2F;r&#x2F;aww (34.1m)
    &#x2F;r&#x2F;music (32.3m)
    &#x2F;r&#x2F;videos (26.6m)
    &#x2F;r&#x2F;futurology (18.7m)
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Such subreddits are the heart and soul of this effort, and we&#x27;re deeply grateful for their support. Please stand with them if you can. If you need to take time to poll your users to see if they&#x27;re on-board, do so - consensus is important. Others originally planned only 48 hours of shutdown, hoping that a brief demonstration of solidarity would be all that was necessary.<p>But more is needed for Reddit to act:<p><pre><code>    Huffman says the blackout hasn’t had “significant revenue impact” and that the company anticipates that many of the subreddits will come back online by Wednesday. “There’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we’ve seen. Please know that our teams are on it, and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well,” the memo reads.
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We recognize that not everyone is prepared to go down with the ship: for example, &#x2F;r&#x2F;StopDrinking represents a valuable resource for a communities in need, and the urgency of getting the news of the ongoing war out to &#x2F;r&#x2F;Ukraine obviously outweighs any of these concerns. For such communities, we are strongly encouraging a new kind of participation: a weekly gesture of support on &quot;Touch-Grass-Tuesdays”. The exact nature of that participation- a weekly one-day blackout, an Automod-posted sticky announcement, a changed subreddit rule to encourage participation themed around the protest- we leave to your discretion.<p>To verify your community&#x27;s participation indefinitely, until a satisfactory compromise is offered by Reddit, respond to this post with the name of your subreddit, followed by &#x27;Indefinite&#x27;. To verify your community&#x27;s Tuesdays, respond to this post with the name of your subreddit, followed by &#x27;Solidarity&#x27;.<p>----<p>The community&#x27;s list of demands:<p><pre><code>    API technical issues
    Accessibility for blind people
    Parity in access to NSFW content
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API technical issues<p><pre><code>    Allowing third-party apps to run their own ads would be critical (given this is how most are funded vs subscriptions). Reddit could just make an ad SDK and do a rev split.
    Bringing the API pricing down to the point ads&#x2F;subscriptions could realistically cover the costs.
    Reddit gives the apps time to make whatever adjustments are necessary
    Rate limits would need to be per user+appkey, not just per key.
    Commitment to adding features to the API; image uploads&#x2F;chat&#x2F;notifications.
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Accessibility for blind people<p><pre><code>    Lack of communication. The official app is not accessible for blind people, these are not new issues and blind and visually impaired users have relied on third-party apps for years. Why were disabled communities not contacted to gauge the impact of these API changes?
    You say you&#x27;ve offered exemptions for &quot;non-commercial&quot; and &quot;accessibility apps.&quot; Despite r&#x2F;blind&#x27;s best efforts, you have not stated how they are selected. r&#x2F;blind compiled a list of apps that meet users&#x27; access needs.
    You ask for what you consider to be a fair price for access to your API, yet you expect developers to provide accessible alternatives to your apps for free. You seem to be putting people into a position of doing what you can&#x27;t do while providing value to your company by keeping users on the platform and addressing a PR issue. Will you be paying the developers of third-party apps that serve as your stopgap?
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Parity in access to NSFW content<p><pre><code>    There have been attempts by devs to talk about the NSFW removal and how third-party apps are willing to hook into whatever &quot;guardrails&quot; (Reddit&#x27;s term) are needed to verify users&#x27; age&#x2F;identity. Reddit is clearly not afraid of NSFW on their platform, since they just recently added NSFW upload support to their desktop site. Third-party apps want an opportunity to keep access to NSFW support (see https:&#x2F;&#x2F;redd.it&#x2F;13evueo).
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Please also note that not all NSFW content is just pornography. There are many times that people seeking help or sharing stories about abuse or medical conditions must also mark their posts NSFW. However, even if this were strictly about porn, Reddit shouldn&#x27;t take a stance that it&#x27;s OK for them but not any other apps, especially when demanding exorbitant fees from these 3rd part devs.