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Thousands of Reddit pages went dark in protest over the company’s new third-party app policy. Although the 48-hour Reddit "Blackout" was nearing its end, some of the passionate user base is indefinitely extending the protests in various subreddit communities.

The company's nonchalant response to the concerns expressed by its passionate user base might backfire. 

On Monday, thousands of subreddits decided to go private, effectively blocking access to extensive content accumulated over the years in each niche community. 

The users started showing their strong opposition to recent decisions made by the company, which involve revoking free API access for developers. 

Reddit intends to replace it with a costly pay-as-you-go model, which has new rules for developers seeking API access for their apps.

Reddit Blackout in protest

Apollo for Reddit, one of the most popular third-party apps on Reddit, has already announced its imminent shutdown due to the new changes. The sole developer running the app could not afford the newly imposed annual API costs of $20 million.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman sent an internal memo that downplays the impact of the user protests, more than 24 hours into the demonstration.

In the memo, Huffman refers to the protests as "a lot of noise," acknowledging that it is one of Reddit's most vocal instances of discontent. And he assures that Reddit's teams are actively addressing the issue and that, like previous incidents, this one will eventually subside.

Huffman emphasizes the company's commitment to delivering what was promised, alluding to the root cause of the protest – Reddit's intention to charge developers exorbitant fees for API access. Additionally, he states that Reddit has not experienced any significant revenue impact due to the ongoing protest.

According to Reddark, a website tracking subreddits participating in the blackout, the protest is gaining momentum.

When Apollo for Reddit announced its shutdown, just over 3,000 subreddits had committed to participating in the API protest. As of Monday morning, when the protests began, over 6,500 subreddits had gone dark.

Reddit went offline temporarily on Monday due to the actions.

As of Tuesday evening, when the protest should be winding down, more than 8,400 subreddits have become private.

 Notably, among the 47 subreddits with over 10 million members, only r/photoshopbattles has not participated in the protest as of Tuesday evening. 

Prominent communities like r/funny with over 40 million members, as well as major subreddits such as r/aww, r/gaming, r/Music, r/science, and r/todayilearned, each boasting over 30 million members, have all joined the protest and restricted access.