Reddit CEO says everything is fine

Emre Çitak
Jun 14, 2023
Internet
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6

Amidst the ongoing blackouts and protests on Reddit, CEO Mike Huffman has spoken up to reassure the company's employees.

The decision to charge for Reddit's API sparked a lot of anger, leading Huffman to address the concerns and say that the site-wide blackout happening on many subreddits will eventually come to an end. Reddit is a popular platform known for its various pop culture and gaming communities, and users' strong criticism has left some employees worried.

CEO has spoken about ongoing Reddit protests

In April, Reddit made a choice to start charging for its API, which had been free until then. This decision upset many users, especially those who use third-party apps that rely on the API. People were not happy with Reddit's move, and it led to moderators and users of thousands of subreddits participating in a blackout to protest against the company's decision.

This is one of the biggest organized protests in Reddit's history, with over eight thousand subreddits joining the blackout.

Reddit protests
CEO of the platform has finally spoken about the Reddit protests - Image: Reddit

As a response, CEO Mike Huffman sent a memo to Reddit employees, obtained by The Verge, addressing the blackout and explaining that despite the protests, work should continue as usual. Huffman reassured employees that the protests haven't caused significant harm to the company's revenue and said, "like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well".

He also advised employees to avoid wearing company-branded gear in public. While some subreddits are expected to end the blackout by Wednesday, there's no guarantee, and Huffman's memo suggests that employees should focus on their work and try to ignore the situation.

It is still uncertain

Huffman's memo may sound confident, but it's hard to say how long these blackouts and protests will last. Charging for Reddit's API has hurt various third-party apps, like Apollo for Reddit. Even if some subreddits stop their blackout soon, there will likely be others that continue to protest for as long as they can.

Reddit is a place where people share their art and ideas, and it's interesting to see the community come together like this to make their voices heard. Only time will tell how this situation ultimately affects the company.

Read alsoBest Reddit alternatives to look for after the blackout protests

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Comments

  1. ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
    Reply

    Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on August 4, 2012 at 7:57 pm
      Reply

      Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.

    2. Leonidas Burton said on September 4, 2023 at 4:51 am
      Reply

      I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
      http://www.google.com/saved

  2. VioletMoon said on August 16, 2023 at 5:26 pm
    Reply

    @Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!

  3. Karl said on August 17, 2023 at 10:36 pm
    Reply

    @Martin

    The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
    https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/

    Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.

  4. Anonymous said on August 25, 2023 at 11:44 am
    Reply

    Omg a badge!!!
    Some tangible reward lmao.

    It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.

  5. Scroogled said on August 25, 2023 at 10:57 pm
    Reply

    With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.

    1. lollmaoeven said on August 27, 2023 at 6:24 am
      Reply

      This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)

  6. El Duderino said on August 25, 2023 at 11:14 pm
    Reply

    Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.

    And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.

  7. John G. said on August 26, 2023 at 1:29 am
    Reply

    First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[

  8. Kalmly said on August 26, 2023 at 4:42 pm
    Reply

    Yes. Please. Fix the comments.

  9. Kim Schmidt said on September 3, 2023 at 3:42 pm
    Reply

    With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.

    Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.

    The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.

    If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.

    And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.

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