How Reddit Crushed the Internet's Largest Protest

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The Reddit Blackout of 2023 will go down in internet history as one of the largest online protests ever. Outraged redditors coordinated a blackout, with moderators making popular subreddits private in protest, resulting in Reddit being a ghost town.

Why? This business decision by Reddit caused developers to pay over $20,000,000 to get access to their developer APIs which they relied on for access to create valuable Reddit clients, bots, and tools.

In this video, we’ll break down how the Reddit blackout unfolded and why it represents a critical moment for the platform. What exactly is an API, and what makes Reddit's so important? How did the blackout force Reddit to come back for developers? We’ll also discuss the broader implications - does this limit Reddit’s ability to monetize? What does it mean for the future of third-party developers?

The Reddit blackout showed the power of an engaged userbase. When the community revolted, Reddit had to listen but at what cost? This dramatic saga provides key insights into online communities, APIs, and protest in the internet age.


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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:45 What is an API?
2:01 The Creation of Apollo (Reddit)
3:32 April 18th 2023 (Large Language Models)
4:09 The Announcement of API Changes
4:47 Apollo Talks to Reddit
5:36 API Requests Explained
6:15 How much is Reddit worth?
6:52 Thanks to Snyk for Sponsoring
8:06 Announcing Apollo Shutdown
8:26 The Slander Begins
9:02 The Actual Call with Reddit
11:36 Analyzing the Call
12:10 Apollo Releases the Source Code
12:59 The Worst Aspect of this Change
13:34 The Post goes VIRAL
14:30 Reddit Responds
14:57 Reddit Declares War
15:29 Subreddits Fight Back
16:32 Blackout Day 1
16:53 Blackout Day 2
17:51 Reddit Saves Face
18:45 Reddit Threatens Mods
20:02 Hackers Get Involved
20:45 The Reddit Files
21:19 The Aftermath
21:52 Apollo Officially Says Goodbye
22:41 What we can learn from this
22:57 Paid API's Moral Dilemma
23:41 Pricing in the age of AI
24:08 Killing 2 Birds with 1 Stone
24:33 When Corporations Runs Socials
24:44 What we can learn from Apollo
26:01 Thank you (SUBSCRIBE)