Widespread protest planned on June 12 over Reddit's new API charging policy

Reddit's new API charging policy has caused uproar among third-party client developers, with a widespread protest planned for June 12th. The policy, which could charge millions of dollars in API fees, has led to hundreds of subreddits planning to go dark for 48 hours.

One developer, the creator of the popular Apollo client, revealed that he would have to pay $20 million per year to keep his client up and running. In response to the criticism, a Reddit administrator stated that an “efficient” third-party app could cost less than $1 per user per month. However, many subreddit moderators are concerned that they will lose the tools they rely on to manage their communities.

Some of Reddit's biggest communities, including r/videos, /r/Pics, r/EarthPorn, /r/programmerHumor, r/LifeProTips, and much more, are planning to set themselves to private on June 12th over the new pricing for third-party app developers to access the site's APIs. This move could potentially leave Reddit's official mobile app as the only option for users, which many have criticized for lacking features and accessibility options.

Despite the controversy, it seems that Reddit is not planning to back off on their plan. They argue that providing the tools to access their data and related services comes at a cost, and it's fair to request payment based on the data used. The protest on June 12th will be a significant moment for the future of third-party clients on Reddit, and we'll see how Reddit reacts.