| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Type | Public |
| Industry | Social Media Services |
| Official website | https://reddit.com/ |
Reddit is an American social network for social-news aggregation, content rating, and forums. As of December 2024, Reddit is the eighth most-visited website in the world. It was founded by University of Virginia roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, as well as Aaron Swartz, in 2005.
Controversies
API paywall
In April of 2023, Reddit announced they would be locking API features and functionality previously accessible to it's users behind a paywall, citing concerns about user generated content being trained on AI. This resulted in a backlash in the community as alternative apps utilizing Reddit's API would be rendered completely useless. While some user's held out hope that app developers could pay this fee to keep their user base, Apollo developer Christian Selig crushed any hope of this idea, explaining that the cost of this API fee was too high and that he would be ceasing development for the foreseeable future.
User's expressed concerns that this wasn't due to AI but due to greed and an attempt to monopolize information as Reddit is often cited as many people's go to resource for almost any topic. This sentiment resulted in one of the largest internet protests known as the Reddit Blackout. The Reddit Blackout was an event in which subreddits would be closed, marked as NSFW to prevent advertisements, or flooded with posts shaming Reddit's CEO. User's would also delete their posts, accounts, or edit them to shame the CEO in an attempt to reduce the value of the information. [1]
| Controversy | Year | Background Info | Aftermath | Related Article | Related Video(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
General References:
- ↑ "2023 Reddit API controversy" - Wikipedia