What is the Reddit blackout, and why should I care?

More than 6,500 communities on the online message board Reddit have “gone dark” for a two-day protest over the site’s contentious decision to charge third-party app (TPA) developers “prohibitive” fees for API access, or access to the site’s data.

Starting Monday, June 12, millions of Redditors will no longer have access to some of the largest subreddits, including r/videos, r/funny, r/gaming, r/apple, r/sports r/science, and r/Music.

A message currently on the r/apple subreddit simply reads: “We stand in solidarity with numerous people who need access to the API including bot developers, people with accessibility needs (r/blind) and 3rd party app users.”

What is the Reddit blackout?

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