In an email to its employees, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman addressed the recent blowback directed at the company. He warned his employees against wearing Reddit gear in public. He also asked his staffers to block out the 'noise' and 'keep moving forward'.
Reddit users are currently protesting the company's API pricing for third-party apps. Thousands of subreddits have gone dark on the app to mark their protest against the new pricing policy, resulting in millions of users being unable to see posts from their favourite community.
In an internal memo, obtained by The Verge, Mr Huffman said that the company had not "seen any significant revenue impact" from the blackout and that "like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well."
He asked his employees to "please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public".
He wrote, "Some folks are really upset, and we don't want you to be the object of their frustrations."
A subreddit is a forum or community of people on Reddit who gather to discuss a particular topic or subject. Some of Reddit's most popular communities, including r/videos, r/reactiongifs, r/earthporn, and r/lifeprotips, have announced their plans to set themselves to private on June 12.
Several developers have expressed concerns about the viability of their services under the new pricing policy.
Unlike other social media sites, Reddit relies on community moderation and although a few administrators are paid, unpaid moderators, known as mods, are often the ones who keep the site functional. These moderators make sure that their subreddit doesn't get clogged with irrelevant or illegal comments.
In a post announcing the protest, the subreddits say ''Reddit is raising its API fees ''to a level that will kill every third party app [on the platform], from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.''
The blackout will include 3,489 subreddits in total, including five of the 10 most popular communities on the site. While some subreddits plan to return after the 48-hour period, others intend to remain private indefinitely unless their concerns are adequately addressed.
