- Reddit users are going on a 48-hour blackout starting today, June 12.
- As of publish time, 7,266 subreddits are taking part in the blackout, but the number is rising.
Reddit users are going on a 48-hour blackout starting today, June 12, and it's affecting some of the site's most popular subreddits.
The blackout comes after Reddit announced on May 31 that it would be introducing new charges to developers of third-party apps. In response, the Reddit community has issued and outlined three demands on a public thread. They are centered around changes to Reddit's application programming interface, or API, accessibility for blind people, and access to content that's deemed not suitable for work, or NSFW.
Here's a look at which of Reddits biggest subreddits will be affected, broken down by size, as outlined in a post on Reddit's moderator coordination community:
- Affected subreddits with 40+ million users: r/funny
- Affected subreddits with 30+ million users: r/aww, r/gaming, r/Music, r/Pics, r/science, r/todayilearned
- Affected subreddits with 20+ million users: r/art, r/askscience, r/books, r/DIY, r/EarthPorn, r/explainlikeimfive, r/food, r/gadgets, r/gifs, r/LifeProTips, r/memes, r/mildlyinteresting, r/NotTheOnion, r/Showerthoughts, r/space, r/sports, r/videos
Another 20 subreddits with more than 10 million users a piece are affected as of press time, including r/dataisbeautiful and r/lifehacks.
In total, 7,266 subreddits are going to be taking part in the blackout, per the Reddit post. They range in size from fewer than 5,000 users to more than 40 million users. The combined subreddits have more than 2.6 billion subscribers and more than 28,000 moderators.
The participating subreddits are going private and won't be accessible during the blackout, BBC reported. At press time, Insider's attempt to reach a random sampling of subreddits including r/funny, r/aww, and r/food all yielded no results, indicating the blackout is at least partially in effect.
Some subreddits will return after the 48-hour blackout period, Insider's Jyoti Mann previously reported, citing a Reddit user called u/Toptomcat. Others will go "go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed," Mann reported, quoting u/Toptomcat's post.
The pricing policy is slated to take effect from July 1.
A Reddit spokesperson told Insider the company is committed to fostering a "responsible developer ecosystem around Reddit." They added that API access is free for moderator tools and bots.
"The vast majority of API users will not have to pay for access; not all third-party apps usage requires paid access," the spokesperson said. "The Reddit Data API is free to use within the published rate limits so long as apps are not monetized."