In 2023, shortly after its initial filings for an initial public offering, Reddit announced that it would begin charging fees for API access, a move that would effectively shut down many third-party apps by making them cost-prohibitive to operate. The CEO, Steve Huffman, stated that it was in response to AI firms scraping data without paying Reddit for it, but coverage linked the move to the upcoming IPO; the move shut down large numbers of third party apps, forcing users to use official Reddit apps that provided more profit to the company. Moderators on the site conducted a blackout protest against the company's new policy, although the changes ultimately went ahead. Many third party Reddit apps such as the Apollo app were shut down because of the new fees.
From Wikipedia:
What is enshittification? Cory Doctorow explains it best: https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/
That was actually a super interesting read...
Reminds me a lot about what's been going on over on YouTube also...
Enshitification is rampant everywhere...
I wonder how far away we are from the entire system we've come to rely on crumbling and imploding...
The fallout from that could be pretty disastrous...
Wow what fascinating reads! Thank you for posting this.