Reddit Tussle With Moderators Could Take A Ugly Turn If Subreddits Are Forcibly Reopened

Reddit continues to remain adamant about charging for its APIs, while thousands of subreddits remain dark in protest. Even third-party developers aren't budging from their threat of shutting down their apps.

It is concerning to note that Reddit CEO Steve Huffman appears to be firm on the decision to charge third-party apps that access Reddit APIs. He has even indicated that the platform might not value the apps that have threatened to shut down if Reddit doesn't make some concessions and exceptions.

"Reddit Was Never Designed For Third-Party Apps," Claims CEO

Reddit APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), and the third-party apps that use them, aren't the same, stressed Reddit CEO Steve Huffman. He added that Reddit was designed as a platform and not as a plugin:

"So, the vast majority of the uses of the API - not [third-party apps like Apollo for Reddit] - the other 98 percent of them, make tools, bots, enhancements to Reddit. That's what the API is for. It was never designed to support third-party apps."

Huffman seems upset about third-party apps that are building a business on top of Reddit. He has clearly indicated that apps using Reddit APIs must pay. "They need to pay for this. That is fair," mentioned the Reddit CEO.

Reddit Respects Communities But May Replace Moderators To Reopen Them?

Reddit has repeatedly stressed that it respects its users, community members, and moderators who work hard to maintain the thousands of forums on the platform. However, the company does appear to have some policies to handle the ongoing issue in a rather stern way.

"We are not shutting down discussions or unilaterally reopening communities," claimed Reddit in an "API Fact Sheet". However, the "ModCodeofConduct" account has informed moderators that Reddit can replace inactive moderators with active ones, even if they all agree to "stop moderating".

Reddit's Moderator Code of Conduct has some policies pertaining to inactive communities. The clauses suggest Reddit can seek remedial measures to ensure communities remain active and engaging.

Reddit might use these clauses to replace hundreds of moderators who have taken their subreddits dark in protest, with people who are willing to bring the communities back online.

It appears that Reddit, and specifically its CEO, are in no mood to negotiate with the moderators and third-party developers over the policy decisions that initially led to the protests and subreddits going dark.

In fact, Reddit claimed that over 80 percent of its top 5,000 communities (by daily active users) are open. There are more than 50,000 daily active moderators, the platform added. However, with many subreddits remaining inaccessible beyond June 14, Reddit does need to address the issue sooner than later.