Social Media platform Reddit is all set to make a series of changes that would intensely affect apps belonging to third-party clients. But the changes are causing fury across the board and it’s resulting in many people coming forward to protest.
As a means of justifying its behavior, the app is working toward providing some statements that would counteract the hatred for the move. But so far, things are not going as planned.
In the past week, we saw the social media platform charge a mega $20 million each year for its operations of Apollo which solely runs across iOS and is under the ownership of Reddit. After a while, we saw the developer of Apollo and a few more of the firm come forward and mention they’d be required to close if the high payment tiers turn into a reality.
This means several apps belonging to third parties are hanging by a thread and at the same time, there is news about protests all set to take center stage by mid-June. Such protests entail several subreddits that have more than 10 million subscribers. And this particularly includes some exciting features like the r/Aww and the r/Pics. Such subreddits may turn into dark soon by next week and it would stay in that manner for around two days. But that wouldn’t happen if Reddit reverts its decision or opts to make amendments to its policy.
When media outlets went to Reddit to attain some more knowledge on the subject and what such protests actually mean, they got a total of five statements and every one of those had addressed some particular issue of the entire community.
For starters, the company mentioned how API charges are definitely not something unique and we’ve seen so many apps like Twitter do the same. The same goes for Reddit’s Apollo and the famous RIF who both have costs attached to them. Hence, the company calls it fair treatment and it wants its developers to now pay the price to attain API access. This is very true when developers make funds through such an API.
But some experts have come out to mention how Reddit is being extremely unfair and actually charging a staggering 20 times the figure that a Redditor makes on the platform. Therefore, that’s why the move is being questioned.
Then there was talk about the Apollo app not being very efficient and how it may cause a reduction in the app’s expenses. By taking on Apollo, the average user actually produces 344 requests to get API access. And in April of this year, we saw a staggering 7 billion requests come forward on the platform.
The company also shed light on how most API users aren’t exactly what Redditors appear to worry about. Some threads linked to such an issue speak about how users don’t wish to lose access to apps owned by Reddit’s third-party clients. The latter are the ones giving complete access to Reddit without any official app or browser.
Such an experience can’t be replicated by making use of apps that are non-monetized as developers require some funds to achieve compensation.
Reddit also spoke about how every subreddit does require some form of moderation and that means hiring someone that’s unpaid but must oversee the workings of the subreddit. Remember, the task of overlooking all subreddits is not simple. It’s huge and when millions of people are involved, it’s tricky.
The company claims to be working by the side of moderation developers to make sure there are some tools that won’t be required to attain access to APIs that are paid. We must remember how certain tools are designed to better the whole experience of moderators but they aren’t created with the intention of being available on a wide spectrum.
Last but not least, the firm mentioned how it always had plans to lay out payments for things like API access. This involves both safety of users as well as of data. But the company wishes to make sure all of its developers have the right tools and data at hand to use this app in a safe manner and to protect other people’s safety and security.
H/T: Android Authority
Read next: As Earth Overshoot Day Approaches, These Countries Act as Role Models
As a means of justifying its behavior, the app is working toward providing some statements that would counteract the hatred for the move. But so far, things are not going as planned.
In the past week, we saw the social media platform charge a mega $20 million each year for its operations of Apollo which solely runs across iOS and is under the ownership of Reddit. After a while, we saw the developer of Apollo and a few more of the firm come forward and mention they’d be required to close if the high payment tiers turn into a reality.
This means several apps belonging to third parties are hanging by a thread and at the same time, there is news about protests all set to take center stage by mid-June. Such protests entail several subreddits that have more than 10 million subscribers. And this particularly includes some exciting features like the r/Aww and the r/Pics. Such subreddits may turn into dark soon by next week and it would stay in that manner for around two days. But that wouldn’t happen if Reddit reverts its decision or opts to make amendments to its policy.
When media outlets went to Reddit to attain some more knowledge on the subject and what such protests actually mean, they got a total of five statements and every one of those had addressed some particular issue of the entire community.
For starters, the company mentioned how API charges are definitely not something unique and we’ve seen so many apps like Twitter do the same. The same goes for Reddit’s Apollo and the famous RIF who both have costs attached to them. Hence, the company calls it fair treatment and it wants its developers to now pay the price to attain API access. This is very true when developers make funds through such an API.
But some experts have come out to mention how Reddit is being extremely unfair and actually charging a staggering 20 times the figure that a Redditor makes on the platform. Therefore, that’s why the move is being questioned.
Then there was talk about the Apollo app not being very efficient and how it may cause a reduction in the app’s expenses. By taking on Apollo, the average user actually produces 344 requests to get API access. And in April of this year, we saw a staggering 7 billion requests come forward on the platform.
The company also shed light on how most API users aren’t exactly what Redditors appear to worry about. Some threads linked to such an issue speak about how users don’t wish to lose access to apps owned by Reddit’s third-party clients. The latter are the ones giving complete access to Reddit without any official app or browser.
Such an experience can’t be replicated by making use of apps that are non-monetized as developers require some funds to achieve compensation.
Reddit also spoke about how every subreddit does require some form of moderation and that means hiring someone that’s unpaid but must oversee the workings of the subreddit. Remember, the task of overlooking all subreddits is not simple. It’s huge and when millions of people are involved, it’s tricky.
The company claims to be working by the side of moderation developers to make sure there are some tools that won’t be required to attain access to APIs that are paid. We must remember how certain tools are designed to better the whole experience of moderators but they aren’t created with the intention of being available on a wide spectrum.
Last but not least, the firm mentioned how it always had plans to lay out payments for things like API access. This involves both safety of users as well as of data. But the company wishes to make sure all of its developers have the right tools and data at hand to use this app in a safe manner and to protect other people’s safety and security.
H/T: Android Authority
Read next: As Earth Overshoot Day Approaches, These Countries Act as Role Models
