Reddit API Policy Changes: Costs and NSFW Content Filtered from June 19

Reddit is not going to change its policy on APIs. The company says in a post on its site that the changes will take effect from June 19. From then on, the api costs money and nsfw content is filtered. Reddit does make concessions around mod tools and bots. They can continue to work.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, of spez, says so in a thread on the platform. He talks to users of the platform, but says nothing about changing previous plans. From June 19, the terms and conditions for using the API will be adjusted, just as the company announced in April this year. There will be a limited free tier which allows users to make 100 queries per minute via OAuth and 10 queries per minute without OAuth. After that, developers have to pay 24 cents per thousand API calls. Reddit says that averages out to “a dollar per user for typical Reddit third-party apps.”

It will also no longer be possible to get nsfw content via the api from July 5th. Reddit is the largest social network where nude and pornographic material is still allowed. Reddit says it wants to maintain more control over how such material is served. The company previously cited legislation that makes it increasingly difficult to continue showing porn to users without circumventing local laws.

Mod tools and bots will continue to be allowed

Reddit does make a concession to moderators. Mod tools such as RES, ContextMod and Toolbox will continue to be available for free. It will also be possible to continue to develop bots that help moderators, but also fun bots such as the well-known ones It didn’t work can continue to access the API for free. To do this, developers must contact Reddit personally. In addition, apps for the blind and visually impaired will have free access to the API. Reddit had already announced this earlier this week. The platform works together with app developers who already make specific accessibility apps such as RedReader.

It is still unclear what the answers will mean for the large-scale protest on the platform. By now have 3589 subreddits marked to go black in protest of the new API prices. Some popular third-party clients, such as Apollo, Reddit Is Fun and Sync, have now indicated that they will stop. The developers calculate the costs for the API at twenty million dollars per year. Hundreds of subreddits are therefore going black in protest. That will happen on June 12. Some forums close their doors for two days, others remain permanently closed. Reddit does not acknowledge that boycott in the post, but says it is having “productive conversations” with moderators.

Earlier this week, Tweakers wrote a background story about the fuss that is currently playing on the platform.