Millions of Reddit users will be affected by a broad blackout that is being planned by thousands of Reddit communities. Reddit is the sixth-most-visited website in the United States and the tenth-most-visited website overall as of February 2023.

The uprising is in response to proposed fees for third-party app developers, which they argue will prevent a sizeable number of users from using the social media site.

In an effort to stop the new price from taking effect on June 12, many of the site’s most popular subreddits, including r/videos, r/gaming, and r/bestof, will go black for 48 hours.

These third-party apps require an API, or application programming interface, in order to access the website’s data and present it to users of the app.

Had a chat with Reddit to talk about price, according to a post from the well-known third-party app Apollo. The reported fee for third-party apps is comparable to Twitter’s pricing, which means that Apollo would have to pay Reddit $20 million annually to continue operating as is.

Reddit intends to charge $12,000 for 50 million API requests, according to Apollo.

Reddit’s CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman reportedly stated that the new adjustments are a part of the company’s aim to become a self-sustaining business during a conversation on “Ask Me Anything” on Friday.

Many Subreddits Will be Going Dark to Protest This Policy

The issue on Reddit also has an ongoing struggle between social media corporations and AI start-ups like OpenAI, which have used vast amounts of data scraped from these platforms to train their AI systems.

Popular third-party applications like Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync have reportedly declared their shutdown ahead of the new pricing’s implementation on July 1. Reddit is still interacting with developers who still want to work with them, according to Huffman, who also goes by the moniker u/spez. He recognised that the 30-day window provided to developers for the new API was a short one.

Redditors in the thread criticised Huffman for how he handled the first incident involving Selig and the Apollo app. Huffman then charged Selig with extortion and poor communication.

The encounter between Huffman and Selig was what drew the most criticism from the audience during the AMA, and many Redditors from all over the site defended the Apollo developer.

Huffman also addressed the issue of sexually explicit content on third-party apps, noting that Reddit must be rigorous about where such content appears owing to a changing regulatory environment and legal issues. The API modifications prevent third-party apps from displaying NSFW content. Additionally, he noted that Reddit is enhancing its own app, including its accessibility features and moderating capabilities.

More than 3,000 subreddits have pledged to “go dark” for two days starting on June 12 as a form of protest against the API changes. Huffman and Reddit are mostly upholding their position in the face of one of the most significant site-wide demonstrations in recent memory.