The well-known and busy Reddit forum has returned to normality after suffering a total blackout that was induced by a strike by users that closed several of the main communities on the platform.
Thousands of subreddits have been shut down in protest, with the indication that they will remain so indefinitely.
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Tim Rathschmidt, spokesman for Reddit, confirmed that the site's outage was a result of the blackout, caused by a significant number of subreddits becoming private, generating instabilities.
While the situation has been resolved, Rathschmidt assured that the company will continue to "closely monitor the situation".
The protest affected popular forum channels such as r/funny, r/aww, r/gamming, r/music, r/science, r/pics, r/todayilearned, r/book, r/food and r/memes. These channels have at least 20 million members each.
Brazilian subreddits such as r/brasil, r/rpg_brasil, r/AMABrasil and r/FortniteBrasil also joined the closure.
Reasons behind the strike on Reddit
What gave rise to this decentralized and leaderless movement was Reddit's recent decision to make it difficult to integrate with third-party software and charge for access to its schedule of apps (API). This controversy was discussed extensively on the r/Save3rdPartyApps subreddit.
One of the moderators, “Toptomcat”, explained that Reddit announced on May 31, 2023 the price increase for third-party apps to use its API, which has been seen as the trigger that triggered the revolt of subreddits.
“The two-day blackout is not the goal and it is not the end. If things get to the 14th with no sign that Reddit has decided to fix what it broke, We will use the community and buzz we have built since then as a tool for future actions,” stated.
The crisis is being monitored
The situation is being monitored by reddark.untone.uk, a website that compiles all communities that are temporarily halting their activities. Reddark also created a streaming live on Twitch that updates in real time the number of subreddits being shut down.
This occurrence marks a historic moment in the struggle between social media platforms and their users. for greater transparency and control over the use of your information and integration with the 3rd. The end result of this conflict could set a new standard for the industry.
