Reddit threatens to ban moderators due to the subreddit blackout

In response to Reddit’s new API policy, several moderators protested by turning off their service for 48 hours. However, some of them are still in a blackout. To this, the company has responded by threatening to ban the platform. Reddit asserted that moderators had a duty to maintain communities’ activity by quoting its Moderator Code of Conduct. If they fail to perform their obligations, the corporation may bring in new moderators to take their place.

Reddit mentioned that millions of users rely on active communities. For this reason, they are required to be active. In case, a moderator has decided to stop providing its services, then we are ready to welcome fresh ones for keeping the spaces active for users. the company further stated that if any moderator wishes to run the community, then they are welcome. While the rest of the moderators will be removed from the mod team.

Reportedly, more than eight thousand subreddits went private in protest of the recent modifications in Reddit’s API policy. Reddit intends to make money off the data that tech companies use to train the LLMs (Large Language Models). LLMs power applications like ChatGPT and Google Bard. However, the costs are too expensive for independent developers who operate Apollo and RIF, the third-party Reddit programs.

In reality, these apps don’t earn enough to pay the operating costs. For this reason, these developers have decided to close their apps. Or in other words, we can say that Reddit has forced them to shut down their apps. Since Reddit is showing no flexibility regarding the API prices. In addition to this, the new changes in the API also break some tools that are essentially required for managing subreddits.

Given this situation, the CEO of the company responded and regarded the protests as mere noise that will eventually pass. He requested the employees to focus on work since a blackout doesn’t have the power to affect the company’s revenue. Of the 8,000 subreddits protesting, 4,000 are still private. While the rest of the subreddits have left the protest and become active. How this situation changes and what’s going to happen next is a matter of time.