What Is the Reddit Blackout? June 12 Protest Explained

Millions of Reddit users will be hit by a widespread "blackout" across the social media platform on Monday, as users rebel against planned changes by shutting down key pages.

Most shutdowns will be temporary, lasting for 48 hours, but some users have warned their pages will not return until Reddit backtracks on its proposed new pricing plans for apps that allow access to the site.

Reddit boasts more than 57 million daily users of the site, according to the company, making the chat forum dubbed the "front page of the internet" and one of the most-visited in the world. It means the protest will affect tens of millions of Americans, who regularly visit the discussion board.

According to the number-crunching website Statista, the United States accounts for the biggest share of Reddit's traffic with 47.13 percent recorded in May last year. The United Kingdom ranked a distant second, accounting for 7.28 percent of visits to the site.

Here's what Reddit users need to know:

What is the Reddit blackout?

Reddit is a popular chat forum with more than 100,000 subforums, known as subreddits. Discussions on Reddit forums frequently spill over to make the news, such as debates over how airlines should accommodate plus-sized passengers, choosing appropriate names for babies, and wedding etiquette.

But now fans of such pages will be blocked from them as community moderators take them offline.

The blackout is an attempt by the site's users to force the company to scrap plans to introduce controversial charges for third-party apps. Bosses want developers of third-party apps, which are used to browse the site, to pay up. The company announced in April that it now intends to charge developers to access its Application Programming Interface (API) from June 19.

When is the Reddit blackout?

The Reddit blackout is due to start on Monday, June 12, and is expected to last for around two days for most forums.

What is Apollo?

Reddit does have its own official app, developed in 2016—some 11 years after the website was founded by University of Virginia roommates in 2005.

The website gained in popularity in 2010, meaning that quick-thinking developers set up third-party apps to allow users to easily access the site on their cell phones. The most popular apps included Apollo, Reddit is Fun, Sync, and ReddPlanet.

But now Reddit plans to hit those developers with charges to use its API, which is needed to run the apps.

Apollo and the other three apps mentioned announced they will shut down as a result of Reddit introducing fees to use the API. Apollo developer Christian Selig said the new model would end up costing him $20 million to continue operating the app. He tweeted his thanks to subreddit supporters on Monday.

Which Subreddits are taking part?

The platform's main subreddits for gaming (which has more than 37 million members), music (32.3 million users) and a popular fact-sharing page called "r/todayilearned" (31.8 million), are among those that will shut down, according to Sky News. Fan pages for Harry Potter and Taylor Swift will also go dark.

Reddit's unpaid volunteer moderators, who keep the discussions on track and delete inappropriate or illegal content, are running the protest.

One unnamed moderator helping to take a subreddit offline told the BBC that the protest demonstrated "strength in numbers."

"Our entire community is supporting us against this change. It feels good to be able to have the power to say: 'We will not continue to moderate our communities if you push these changes through,'" the moderator said.

"If it's almost the entire website [being made inaccessible], would they destroy what they've built up in all these communities, just to push through this highly unpopular change that both the mods and users of Reddit are overwhelmingly against?"

The moderator said that while most communities intended to keep their own forums dark for 48 hours, others were planning to keep it rolling indefinitely to keep the pressure on Reddit.

"Every community operates differently, and different moderators have different views on what's happening right now, so it does vary," they said.

What has Reddit said?

When asked for comment, a Reddit spokesperson referred Newsweek to a recent statement made by CEO Steve Huffman on the website. He told users last week: "We respect when you and your communities take action to highlight the things you need, including, at times, going private. We are all responsible for ensuring Reddit provides an open accessible place for people to find community and belonging."

The spokesperson also confirmed that Reddit is "not planning any changes to the API updates we've previously announced."

An unnamed Reddit insider has previously told the BBC that the forum site spends "multi-millions of dollars on hosting fees" and "needs to be fairly paid" to continue supporting third-party apps. "Our pricing is based on usage levels that we measure to be comparable to our own costs," the source added.

Reddit's main revenue stream has previously been its advertising sales and premium subscriptions.

When the company announced the price changes for developers back in April, a statement on Reddit's website said: "We're working to build a more sustainable, healthy ecosystem around data on Reddit, and continuing to roll out moderator tools for Reddit native apps."

"To ensure developers have the tools and information they need to continue to use Reddit safely, protect our users' privacy and security, and adhere to local regulations, we're making updates to the ways some can access the Reddit Data API:

"We are introducing a new premium access point for third parties who require additional capabilities, higher usage limits, and broader usage rights[...]

"We recognize our developer community is essential to the success of the Reddit platform and, in particular, our moderators. To that end, we're also expanding on our commitment to building mobile moderator tools for Reddit's iOS and Android apps."

Update 6/12/23, 11:54 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include additional information from Reddit and a comment from its CEO Steve Huffman.