• by Colin Kirkland , September 30, 2024

In an attempt to gain more control over the communities on its platform after last year's protests, Reddit has announced new rules that require moderators to submit a formal request when trying to update the privacy settings and maturity ratings of their subreddits.

Until now, Reddit moderators have been able to freely switch their subreddit between public and private, as well as safe for work and not safe for work (NSFW),without involving Reddit administrators -- an option many moderators utilized when protesting the company's API pricing changes last year.

In April 2023, the discussion and news platform announced its decision to begin charging for its previously free application programming interface, resulting in the shutdown of multiple third-party apps and communities, and angering millions of users.

Thousands of subreddits went private and were categorized as NSFW as a way to throw off the platform's advertising business, causing the company to threaten the removal of moderators.

Now as a public company, Reddit has decided to gain more control over its communities, effectively banning this means of protest, by updating its Community Type settings.

“We have a responsibility to protect Reddit and ensure its long-term health, and we cannot allow actions that deliberately cause harm,” Reddit Vice President of Community Laura Nestler recently wrote on the platform, adding that “protest is allowed on Reddit” unless it “crosses the line into harming redditors and Reddit.”

The company says these changes are in immediate effect and will mostly target large communities.

Requests to switch between public and private for a community of less than 5,000 members that is under 30 days old will be instantly approved.

“Our responsibility is to protect Reddit and to ensure its long-term health,” Nestler tells The Verge, referencing the protests. “After that experience, we decided to deprecate a way to cause harm at scale.”