Several subreddits have “gone dark” beginning on June 12 by making their communities private in protest of planned changes in Reddit’s policy regarding the use of their API that threatens to destroy many third-party apps for browsing the site. Standing alongside the other protesting communities is the Final Fantasy XIV subreddit, /r/ffxiv, leaving fans having to search elsewhere for their discussion, memes, and fan art.
The outrage began when Christian Selig, creator of the popular third-party Reddit mobile app Apollo, shared that Reddit’s new policy would now charge developers that make requests using Reddit’s API. Selig explained that Apollo made seven billion requests in the last month alone, meaning he would have to pay $1,700,000 a month – or $20 million a year – for his app to continue using Reddit’s API.
Many users rely on third-party apps for their accessibility options, such as settings allowing visually-impaired people to browse the site – features sorely missing from Reddit’s first-party app, and moderation tools many of the site’s unpaid moderators use. These pricing changes would destroy a plethora of third-party mobile apps available and remove the functionality of the popular browser extension Reddit Enhancement Suite.
Why is /r/ffxiv set to private?https://t.co/pL6mjEgVfD pic.twitter.com/UzIF7aDqAG
— /r/FFXIV (@redditFFXIV) June 14, 2023
The /r/ffxiv community has joined thousands of other subreddits that are against these changes, demanding that Reddit either make changes to the planned pricing for access to their API or provide the necessary functionalities found in third-party apps to help with moderation and make the app more accessible for the visually-impaired.
While the initial “blackout” was intended to only last for two days, many felt that the short amount of time would deliver less impact to Reddit than they would have hoped. As a result, many subreddits are choosing to remain private indefinitely until their demands are met. At the time of writing, /r/ffxiv intends to stay locked until June 19, after which they will poll users in their community on their opinions of continuing to remain private.
There’s no clear date or outcome to what will become of the many communities who have made their subreddits private, so those still looking to partake in discussion and camaraderie with their fellow fans of Final Fantasy XIV might not be able to turn to Reddit for the time being, but its associated Discord server is still bustling with activity.
