Some of Reddit’s most popular communities are going dark today in protest against “ludicrous” pricing changes.
The platform’s main subreddits for gaming, which has more than 37 million members; music, which has 32.3 million; and r/todayilearned, a page dedicated to sharing facts with 31.8 million users are among those shutting down.
Pages dedicated to specific fandoms, including Harry Potter and Taylor Swift, have also decided to go offline.
While some communities taking part in the blackout have said they will return after 48 hours, others suggest they may not come back until Reddit backtracks on its upcoming changes.
What are the changes?
In April, Reddit announced it would start charging for developers to access its API – that stands for application programming interface.
It’s what allows third parties to access information on the platform, most importantly so developers can run alternate smartphone apps for users who don’t like Reddit’s official one.
Until now, accessing the API was free for all – but charges will be introduced from 19 June.
Hold on, explain the API again…
Advertisement
Reddit’s database is chock-full of everything that makes up Reddit – the posts, the comments, the profiles and so on.
Whenever you use a Reddit app, you are essentially asking the platform’s API for permission to look at the posts, comments and profiles you want to see.
Like the staff at the entrance to a British museum, until now it had just waved you through with no cash required – but now it’s demanding payment.
That’s not an issue if you’re going directly through Reddit, either via the web or its app, but it means for third-party developers the cost gets passed on to them.
And it’s about to get expensive?
Reddit has not publicly revealed the exact pricing details, but the makers of the popular third-party app Apollo have claimed they would be charged more than $20m (£15.9m) a year at their current rate of API usage.
“The price they gave was $0.24 for 1,000 API calls,” said a post on Apollo’s own subreddit (a “call” being one of those aforementioned requests).
“With my current usage [that] would cost almost $2m per month, or over $20m per year.”
Image: Subreddits dedicated to Taylor Swift and Harry Potter are among those going offline. Pic: AP
Image: Pic: WB Games
Why can’t people just use the official app?
What’s crucial here is while Reddit launched way back in 2005, it didn’t release its own app until 2016.
It meant that for years, users had to rely on third-party apps, and many became so used to their preferred choice that they’ve stuck with them and never turned to the official one.
Popular options include Apollo, Narwhal, Relay, and Infinity.
Apollo, Reddit Is Fun, Sync, and ReddPlanet have all said they will be forced to shut down on 30 June, while others could follow suit or start charging their users to keep up with costs.
What have the subreddits going offline said?
Some communities that decided to go dark today did so after consulting with their members.
R/gaming said its members were “overwhelmingly in support of the blackout”, as it said Reddit’s API changes would make third-party apps “ludicrously more expensive for developers to run”.
The music subreddit, which won’t be accessible by members or general visitors for 48 hours, encouraged people to contact Reddit to make clear their opposition to the new policy.
Moderators of the Harry Potter subreddit have written an open letter, urging Reddit to reconsider the API charges to “preserve the rich ecosystem” that has developed around the platform.
The Taylor Swift subreddit, among others, has also raised concerns about the impact on users with disabilities, saying some third-party apps offer much better accessibility options than Reddit.
What has Reddit said?
Reddit has defended the impending API charges, saying the platform needs to be “fairly paid”.
“Expansive access to data has impact and costs involved; we spend multi-millions of dollars on hosting fees and Reddit needs to be fairly paid to continue supporting high-usage third-party apps,” said a statement to Sky News.
“Our pricing is based on usage levels that we measure to be comparable to our own costs.”
The company said developers could make their maps “more efficient” to reduce the number of API calls required, adding that access would also remain free for moderator tools and bots.
It added: “We’re committed to fostering a safe and responsible developer ecosystem around Reddit – developers and third-party apps can make Reddit better and do so in a sustainable and mutually-beneficial partnership, while also keeping our users and data safe.”
It comes as the company lays off 90 employees, about 5% of its workforce, to cut costs.
Mature, developed economies like the UK and US became ever more reliant on cheap imports from China and, in the process, saw their manufacturing sectors shrink.
Large swathes of the rust belt in the US – and much of the Midlands and North of England – were hollowed out.
And to some extent that’s where the story of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” really began – with the notion that free trade and globalisation had a darker side, a side he wants to remedy via tariffs.
More on Donald Trump
Related Topics:
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
6:39
Trump’s tariffs: Ed Conway analysis
He imposed a set of tariffs in his first term, some on China, some on specific materials like steel and aluminium. But the height and the breadth of those tariffs were as nothing compared with the ones we have just heard about.
Not since the 1930s has the US so radically increased the level of tariffs on all nations across the world. Back then, those tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression.
It’s anyone’s guess as to what the consequences of these ones will be. But there will be consequences.
Consequences for the nature of globalisation, consequences for the US economy (tariffs are exceptionally inflationary), consequences for geopolitics.
Image: Imports from the UK will face a 10% tariff, while EU goods will see 20% rates. Pic: Reuters
And to some extent, merely knowing that little bit more about the White House’s plans will deliver a bit of relief to financial markets, which have fretted for months about the imposition of tariffs. That uncertainty recently reached unprecedented levels.
But don’t for a moment assume that this saga is over. Nothing of the sort. In the coming days, we will learn more – more about the nuts and bolts of these policies, more about the retaliatory measures coming from other countries.
We will, possibly, get more of a sense about whether some countries – including the UK – will enjoy reprieves from the tariffs.
To paraphrase Churchill, this isn’t the end of the trade war, or even the beginning of the end – perhaps just the end of the beginning.
Donald Trump has announced a 10% trade tariff on all imports from the UK – as he unleashed sweeping tariffs across the globe.
Speaking at a White House event entitled “Make America Wealthy Again”, the president held up a chart detailing the worst offenders – which also showed the new tariffs the US would be imposing.
“This is Liberation Day,” he told a cheering audience of supporters, while hitting out at foreign “cheaters”.
He claimed “trillions” of dollars from the “reciprocal” levies he was imposing on others’ trade barriers would provide relief for the US taxpayer and restore US jobs and factories.
Mr Trump said the US has been “looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” by other nations.
Image: Pic: AP
His first tariff announcement was a 25% duty on all car imports from midnight – 5am on Thursday, UK time.
Mr Trump confirmed the European Union would face a 20% reciprocal tariff on all other imports. China’s rate was set at 34%.
The UK’s rate of 10% was perhaps a shot across the bows over the country’s 20% VAT rate, though the president’s board suggested a 10% tariff imbalance between the two nations.
It was also confirmed that further US tariffs were planned on some individual sectors including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical mineral imports.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
6:39
Trump’s tariffs explained
The ramping up of duties promises to be painful for the global economy. Tariffs on steel and aluminium are already in effect.
The UK government signalled there would be no immediate retaliation.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers. That’s why, throughout the last few weeks, the government has been fully focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States that strengthens our existing fair and balanced trading relationship.
“The US is our closest ally, so our approach is to remain calm and committed to doing this deal, which we hope will mitigate the impact of what has been announced today.
“We have a range of tools at our disposal and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to engage with UK businesses including on their assessment of the impact of any further steps we take.
“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal. But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:43
Who showed up for Trump’s tariff address?
The EU has pledged to retaliate, which is a problem for Northern Ireland.
Should that scenario play out, the region faces the prospect of rising prices because all its imports are tied to EU rules under post-Brexit trading arrangements.
It means US goods shipped to Northern Ireland would be subject to the EU’s reprisals.
The impact of a trade war would be expected to be widely negative, with tit-for-tat tariffs risking job losses, a ramping up of prices and cooling of global trade.
Research for the Institute for Public Policy Research has suggested more than 25,000 direct jobs in the UK car manufacturing industry alone could be at risk from the tariffs on car exports to the US.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) had said the tariff costs could not be absorbed by manufacturers and may lead to a review of output.
The tariffs now on UK exports pose a big risk to growth and the so-called headroom Chancellor Rachel Reeves was forced to restore to the public finances at the spring statement, risking further spending cuts or tax rises ahead to meet her fiscal rules.
A member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), David Miles, told MPs on Tuesday that US tariffs at 20% or 25% maintained on the UK for five years would “knock out all the headroom the government currently has”.
But he added that a “very limited tariff war” that the UK stays out of could be “mildly positive”.
He said: “There’s a bit of trade that will get diverted to the UK, and some of the exports from China, for example, that would have gone to the US, they’ll be looking for a home for them in the rest of the world.
“And stuff would be available in the UK a bit cheaper than otherwise would have been. So there is one, not central scenario at all, which is very, very mildly potentially positive to the UK. All the other ones which involve the UK facing tariffs are negative, and they’re negative to very different extents.”
Mature, developed economies like the UK and US became ever more reliant on cheap imports from China and, in the process, saw their manufacturing sectors shrink.
Large swathes of the rust belt in the US – and much of the Midlands and North of England – were hollowed out.
And to some extent that’s where the story of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” really began – with the notion that free trade and globalisation had a darker side, a side he wants to remedy via tariffs.
More on Donald Trump
Related Topics:
He imposed a set of tariffs in his first term, some on China, some on specific materials like steel and aluminium. But the height and the breadth of those tariffs were as nothing compared with the ones we have just heard about.
Not since the 1930s has the US so radically increased the level of tariffs on all nations across the world. Back then, those tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression.
It’s anyone’s guess as to what the consequences of these ones will be. But there will be consequences.
Consequences for the nature of globalisation, consequences for the US economy (tariffs are exceptionally inflationary), consequences for geopolitics.
Image: Imports from the UK will face a 10% tariff, while EU goods will see 20% rates. Pic: Reuters
And to some extent, merely knowing that little bit more about the White House’s plans will deliver a bit of relief to financial markets, which have fretted for months about the imposition of tariffs. That uncertainty recently reached unprecedented levels.
But don’t for a moment assume that this saga is over. Nothing of the sort. In the coming days, we will learn more – more about the nuts and bolts of these policies, more about the retaliatory measures coming from other countries.
We will, possibly, get more of a sense about whether some countries – including the UK – will enjoy reprieves from the tariffs.
To paraphrase Churchill, this isn’t the end of the trade war, or even the beginning of the end – perhaps just the end of the beginning.