In a unique protest against Reddit’s recent pricing policy shake-up, a Not-Safe-For-Work (NSFW) community on the platform has adopted a decidedly different look and feel. The subreddit r/horny, known for its adult content, now resembles something more akin to a “Christian Minecraft server,” with images of goats, cats, and an assortment of memes taking center stage.
The moderators of this community, which boasts approximately 750,000 members, declared a farewell to its typical NSFW content, shifting the subreddit’s vibe to a more wholesome and humorous space. This unexpected switch reflects the community’s frustration with what they’ve described as Reddit’s “treacherous” terrain.
The winds of change have swept across the Reddit landscape, leaving numerous communities in the dark. In protest against Reddit’s new pricing policy for its Application Programming Interface (API), thousands of subreddits went private starting Monday. As reported by the Financial Times, nearly 5,000 communities were still dark by Friday.
Reddit’s controversial decision to charge third-party apps for API access from July 1 has sparked this backlash. Apollo, a third-party app, calculated that the changes would entail an annual cost exceeding $20 million.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, in a post discussing the API adjustments, reassured users that “explicit content is still allowed on Reddit as long as it abides by our content policy.”
Yet, several moderators of major communities expressed discontent. The r/antiwork and r/IndianSkincareAddicts subreddits criticized Reddit for disregarding the desires of both community members and the moderation team. One moderator even described the company’s actions as “disgraceful, disrespectful, and downright disgusting.”
As this wave of rebellion continues to crest, the protesting communities insist that Reddit’s move is a stark disregard for the challenges faced by both moderators and users, breaching previous promises.
As of now, Reddit has not responded to requests for comment made outside normal business hours. This story is another stark reminder of the constant tussle between digital platforms and their users in this era of online communities.