Steve Huffman, Reddit CEO, Reassures Employees That Subreddit Blackout Will Pass - But Warns Them To Not Wear Reddit Gear In Public

Tech

Jun 30

One can never be too careful these days, which is probably why Reddit CEO Steve Huffman closed out his most recent staff memo by warning employees not to wear Reddit gear while out in public. Reddit is no stranger to controversy by any means, the most recent being the subreddit blackout. The Verge reports that Huffman’s memo reassures staff through a this too shall pass philosophy while acknowledging the mindfulness necessary for staff to ere on the side of caution in terms of their physical safety. Huffman states that “there’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest, we’ve seen. Please know that our teams are on it, and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well.” He continues by saying that he’s “sorry to say this, but please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public. Some folks are really upset, and we don’t want you to be the object of their frustrations.”

In April, Reddit announced its plan to change how API pricing would work for the platform. Novices may wonder what that means. The move appears to be in line with the evolution of social media platforms across the board. Reddit is certainly not the only business model looking to adapt to the ever-increasing demand for services while compensating for the cost and ultimately generating revenue. Both Meta and Twitter, for example, have made similar changes. With the use of artificial intelligence training utilized by third-party app developers such as Apollo for Reddit, the use of Reddit’s data will come with a hefty price. The argument from the developers is that the expectation is to pay Reddit more than what they make on their end of the spectrum. Both developers announced that they would shut down on June 30th as the new pricing is to go into effect on July 1.

The news has caused considerable indignation among Reddit users who organized blackouts across numerous subreddit channels. The backlash of which caused the entire website to crash earlier in the week. Reddit was only down briefly; however, several channels went dark in retaliation for the new pricing rollout. Some of the subreddits are back online; however, with over 8,000 Reddit communities going private in protest, some are expected to return to public next week, while others state they will remain private with no return to public date in sight.

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