Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit, and who a few days ago had the community organize a boycott for the changes in the API of the platform, seems not to be concerned about the blackout of thousands of subreddits. In an internal memo sent to employees and viewed by The Vergethe executive hHe detailed that “there is a lot of noise” about it, but that the widespread protest “will pass.” It has also warned its employees to be careful when using Reddit teams in public in the face of potential threats from users of the platform.
The letter sent to employees comes just days after thousands of subreddits went private in protest of the new API changes. This, in particular, will become paid; something that has made many developers have to announce the closure of their app —as is the case with Apollo— since they cannot bear the costs. They are also changes that came practically without prior notice, and with very poor communication from Huffman. The Reddit CEO, as some claim, even lied on several occasions during a question and answer session.
After days with thousands of private subreddits, which makes it impossible to access them unless you are subscribed, Huffman wanted to remain calm, ensuring that it is something that will soon return to normal. He further claims that does not plan to roll back API changes and that they have not seen “any significant revenue impact thus far” and that they will continue to monitor the situation.
Reddit CEO on shutting down apps like Apollo
The Reddit CEO, on the other hand, has detailed that his team is chatting with developers of apps that use the API to avoid the closure of their platforms at the end of the month, something that Apollo or RIF have already announced. It has also reiterated that those accessibility applications will remain exempt from the new API changes.
Huffman has finished the letter warning his employees to be careful when using Reddit equipment in public in the face of the possible threat of those users against the new changes. Sorry to say this, but be careful when using Reddit gear in public. Some people are really upset and we don’t want you to be the object of their frustrations,” she comments. This is the complete letter.
hello snoos [así es como se llama en Reddit a los empleados],
Since last night, around a thousand subreddits have gone private. We anticipate that many of them will return on Wednesday, as many have said so. While we knew this was coming, it is challenging and we have a lot of work ahead of us. Several Snoos have been working around the clock, adapting to infrastructure stresses, engaging with communities, and responding to the myriad of issues related to this outage. Thanks, team.
We have not seen any significant revenue impact thus far and will continue to monitor.
There is a lot of noise with this. One of the loudest we’ve ever seen. Please know that our teams are aware, and like all explosions on Reddit, this one too shall pass. The most important thing we can do right now is to stay focused, adapt to challenges, and keep moving forward. We absolutely must ship what we said we would ship. The only long-term solution is to improve our product, and in the short term, we have some critical modding tool releases coming up that we need to nail down.
While the two largest third-party apps, Apollo and RIF, along with a couple others, have said they plan to shut down at the end of the month, we’re still in conversation with a few others. And as I mentioned in my post last week, we will be exempting accessibility-focused apps and so far we have deals with RedReader and Dystopia.
Sorry to say this, but be careful using Reddit gear in public. Some people are really upset and we don’t want you to be the object of their frustrations.
Again, we’ll get through it. Thank you all for helping us do it.
Meanwhile, navigating the platform these past few days has been really tricky. The app has been temporarily without service, and some subreddits with millions of users are still not available, despite saying that the blackout would last 48 hours.