Reddit users continue to find new and creative ways to voice their criticism of the platform as pressure mounts on protesting sections of the community. The subreddits for fashion tips have been reopened, but with a catch: only advice for the 18th century is allowed on r/femalefashionadvice and r/malefashionadvice. Meanwhile, the subreddit r/PoliticalHumor has made all subscribers moderators and now requires all post titles on r/Videos to contain profanity after a not safe for work (NSFW) flag was removed. Despite Reddit’s efforts, more than 2500 subreddits are still inaccessible.
Reports of Reddit’s threats to moderators are compiled in a separate subreddit, where moderators discuss their experiences. Some smaller subreddit moderators have been asked by Reddit to end their protest, with the expectation that the communities will reopen. The messages from Reddit to moderators are described as threatening, and many are concerned about the future of their subreddits. While some moderators continue to resist, others are bowing out to protect their communities.
The dispute on Reddit began almost two weeks ago after the platform announced plans to charge money for API access starting in July. This decision has caused third-party applications to discontinue their services, making it difficult for moderators to effectively manage their communities. Reddit is seeking payment from OpenAI and other AI companies who use Reddit comments to train their language models, a move that has been heavily criticized by users who believe they should be compensated for their content.
The protest on Reddit started with thousands of subreddits becoming non-public, blocking access to most visitors. After Reddit management made it clear that these blockades would not be tolerated, the protest took on more creative forms. Some subreddits decided to only accept pictures of comedian John Oliver, while others classified their content as NSFW to prevent ads from running and impact Reddit’s business. Despite Reddit’s efforts to regain control, the dispute is ongoing with no resolution in sight.
