Reddit CEO Steve Huffman on blackout: It's expensive to run a company.

ghariksforge , 1 year ago

This is why the fediverse is so great. It really is really expensive to run a social media company. By spreading the cost over many actors and encouraging competition, this allows us to host content without being beholden to billionares.

erogenouswarzone , 1 year ago

*Chinese billionaires

TheAnonymouseJoker , 1 year ago

Are you trying to bring your Reddit = Chinese government xenophobic r/conspiracy Reddit nonsense here? Would you like to provide proof? Because this is violating a rule.

blitzen , 1 year ago

I am asking this in full earnestness: is any critique of the Chinese government assumed to be rooted in xenophobia?

TheAnonymouseJoker , 1 year ago

Most of it has its roots in xenophobia and crushing the “near-peer competitors”, yes. You can ask US government about Cold War McCarthyist propaganda which is spread by NATO (US/Europe) media. You can even go back as far as 1940 to find a short film series Drums of Fu Manchu (check YouTube), which is before NATO’s creation, or the Opium War I by Britain in 1856 and British Raj on India for 2 centuries.

Orientalism, xenophobia and imperialist looting/plundering against East are historically well known evil deeds of Anglosphere.

blitzen , 1 year ago

I feel that maybe you’re reading my question as ‘critique of China is inherently support for the west/US/etc’ which I absolutely do not mean. I think that it’s possible that painting all critique with a broad ‘xenophobia’ brush (while undoubtedly warranted at times) can prevent discussion in good faith.

Druidgrove , 1 year ago

I just commented on another similar article! His reasoning for this move contradicts itself! How can he claim that the overwhelming majority of users (97%) use the official Reddit app, but the use of 3rd party apps is destroying their bottom line? That means that that the lost profit from 3% of users are the reason for the API price change?

And… if there are only 4-5 big 3rd party apps (like Apollo, RIF), why force them out of the market? If only 3% of users use them, are they really that big of a deal? Why are the prices so astronomically high?

This is Reddit consolidating their empire. I hope that folks are prepared for future roll-outs of new subscriptions and reasons that Reddit users need to pay.

Ember , 1 year ago

It makes so little sense to me. They could have charged a reasonable amount and made some money off of the apps, but instead, they chose to kill them and lose their users. Some might migrate to the official app, but this uproar may have caused even more to leave the platform entirely.