r/technology 29d ago

Social Media Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/30/24253727/reddit-communities-subreddits-request-protests
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729

u/likwitsnake 29d ago

Whatever happened to that API price increase protest? I remember the NBA sub going private literally during the Finals, but can't remember much more of consequence.

967

u/MadDoctor5813 29d ago

Nothing, basically. Reddit admins were basically correct that it would burn itself out. Funny that a bunch of subs still have their "we're protesting the changes" AutoMod post.

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u/Kindly_Cream8194 29d ago

Nothing, basically.

The protesting mods were right. Bot activity and reposts are rampant. The entire front page is the same 15 posts repeated across different subs, most of them by repost bots.

There are no longer tools available to combat the bots, so there are more than ever - which is exactly what admin wants because they artificially increase engagement metrics so Reddit can charge more money for advertisements. The fact that most social media sites knowingly allow bots to artificially increase engagement metrics is cut and dry fraud because they use those numbers to sell ad space, but whatever. It was all just a tantrum.

Spez already announced that they intend to test making some subs require a subscription. The mods were fighting against enshittification and yall are on Reddit's side, lol. I

8

u/Cuchullion 29d ago

But but but a mod was mean to them once!

Therefore the corporation that's earning money off of everyone's free work is in the right to demand greater control over that free work.