Reddit is sadly following in Elon Musk’s grasping footsteps and charging builders for entry to the platform’s API, which is significant for working third-party instruments. This comes shortly after Twitter banned third-party shopper apps and turned to aggressively monetizing API entry.

Twitter appears to have set a precedent that can depart builders within the lurch. In accordance with Slash Gear, developer of in style third-party Reddit app Apollo Christian Selig took to Reddit to debate how the brand new API coverage will value him a staggering $20 million in charges yearly primarily based on present consumer engagement figures, which might shortly launch Apollo into severe monetary hassle.

In Selig’s publish, he explains that he’s had a number of calls with Reddit representatives which have yielded no constructive response, and that whereas the communication was courteous, a giant fats invoice nonetheless awaits him regardless. Reddit is supposedly charging $12,000 for 50 million API requests, which can appear to be lots, however is definitely a comparatively small quantity for a platform like Reddit.

📣 Had a name with Reddit to debate pricing. Unhealthy information for third-party apps, their introduced pricing is near Twitter’s pricing, and Apollo must pay Reddit $20 million per yr to maintain working as-is. from r/apolloapp

This can be a stick up! 

At this level, Apollo had made 7 billion API requests, which might put the month-to-month quantity owed to Reddit at $1.7 million and the annual free at roughly $20 million based on the app’s developer. Selig clarified in his publish that even when he boots each non-paying Apollo consumer from the service, the common paying subscriber nonetheless makes 300 API requests every day. 

In abstract, builders like Selig have mainly been put between a rock and a tough place, the place the information they should make their apps work is locked behind such steep paywalls that they may very well be pressured to close their apps down fully. We noticed this just lately with Block Social gathering on Twitter, which needed to shut down because of CEO Elon Musk’s extortionate new API charges. 

From the feedback on Selig’s Reddit publish, it appears to be like like Apollo customers may merely ditch Reddit fully if the third-party shopper dies, similar to how customers flocked to Twitter options like Mastodon or Bluesky amongst the flurry of modifications following Musk’s takeover.

It’s laborious to pinpoint a precise cause why Reddit and Twitter are feeling murderous in the direction of third-party apps. It’s attainable that because the two platforms are goldmines of data for coaching AI fashions like ChatGPT, the emphasis might have shifted to not eager to dish out that information totally free. 

Reddit founder and CEO Steven Huffman instructed the New York Occasions that “the Reddit corpus of information is basically helpful” and the corporate doesn’t “want to provide all of that worth to a few of the largest firms on the planet totally free”.

It’s a disgrace to see a social media staple like Reddit comply with Twitter down such a turbulent path, and the shift to paid APIs comes throughout as each anti-consumer and anti-innovation. Many customers will lose the apps they depend on and have used for a few years, and we’ll all miss out on new apps as a result of builders merely can’t maintain as much as the ridiculous charges.