The 2023 API pricing changes, blackout & moderator purge
April–July 2023
Reddit's decision to charge punitive prices for API access killed popular third-party apps like Apollo and triggered the largest protest in the site's history — followed by the removal of protesting moderators.
What happened
On 18 April 2023 Reddit announced it would begin charging for access to its data API. On 31 May, Apollo developer Christian Selig revealed the pricing would cost his app on the order of $20 million per year, making it and other beloved third-party clients unviable. On 8 June, Apollo announced it would shut down on 30 June.
Thousands of subreddits went dark beginning 12 June 2023 in protest — more than 8,000 communities at the peak. CEO Steve Huffman defended the changes in a contentious 9 June AMA and, in internal and public remarks, dismissed the protest and characterized Selig's conduct unfavorably, which further inflamed users. As some communities stayed private or shifted to malicious compliance, Reddit warned and in some cases removed or replaced moderators who kept their subreddits closed, asserting that mod teams do not 'own' communities.
Impact
The protest was the largest coordinated action in Reddit's history and permanently changed the platform: third-party apps largely disappeared, trust between the company and its volunteer moderators was badly damaged, and many long-time contributors left. It also exposed the core power imbalance — Reddit ultimately demonstrated it would override moderator wishes to protect its commercial interests ahead of its 2024 IPO.