--- title: "Reddit Is in a Full-Blown Rebellion Against Its CEO" description: "In response to controversial and platform-altering changes to its API, Redditors are officially mobilizing against Reddit and its CEO." date: "2023-06-12" modified: "2023-06-12" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/reddit-rebellion-ceo" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "platforms" - "reddit" - "social media" - "the digest" --- # Reddit Is in a Full-Blown Rebellion Against Its CEO ![In response to controversial and platform-altering changes to its API, Redditors are officially mobilizing against Reddit and its CEO.]() *\Image: Futurism\* ## Reddellion In response to [controversial and platform-altering changes to its API](), Redditors are mobilizing en masse against the site and its CEO, Steve Huffman. As [the *BBC* reports](), nearly 3,500 subreddits have gone dark for 48 hours in protest against the changes, which have made Reddit's previously-free API access incredibly expensive for numerous popular developers. Though the changes were [first announced back in April](), the controversy is coming to a head now as popular third-party apps like Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync are shutting down on grounds that they would be unable to pay their new API bills. (Apollo developer Christian Selig claimed that Reddit's changes would [require him to cough up a sum to the tune of $20 million a year]().) As a result, moderators across the platform are taking their subreddits private in protest — which isn't a great look for the very much community-driven Reddit, especially with its [impending IPO]() just around the corner. If, of course, [it doesn't stall out once again](). ## Standing Firm The user pushback also comes on the heels of an [absolutely disastrous Reddit AMA]() with Huffman and other platform leaders on Friday, in which Huffman vehemently defended the new API rules. "Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business," Huffman, who goes by u/spez on the platform, [wrote at the top of the thread](), "and to do that, we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use." ## Strength in Numbers As the *BBC* reports, among the subreddits participating in the blackout are five of the site's most popular communities: r/gaming, r/aww, r/Music, r/todayilearned, and r/pics. Each of these forums hosts more than 30 million members apiece — staggering figures in their own right, but even more powerful when combined. The protest is about "strength in numbers," an unnamed moderator of one of these highly trafficked pages told the *BBC*. "If it was a single subreddit going private, Reddit may intervene." And frankly, if any site's userbase could successfully hold its leadership hostage, it would probably be Reddit's. The site arguably gleans most of its value from its dedicated patrons, and in a word, they're *pissed*, and they're letting Huffman know. "This is a completely volunteer position, we don't receive any financial compensation," the unnamed mod told the *BBC*, "and despite that, we do like to take it quite seriously." **More on the Reddit drama:** [*A Scandal Is Making Reddit Look Absolutely Horrible Right Now*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()