Reddit CEO Labels Its Site Moderators ‘Landed Gentry’ Amid Protests

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman had some heavy words for his site’s moderators (mods, for short), many of whom participated in a “blackout” effort this week to protest his Reddit application programming interface (API) monetization changes. In an NBC interview, he equated the moderators with “landed gentry” and said the system enabling them to maintain the blackout was “not democratic.”

To note: “landed gentry” refers to the British social class that generationally inherited land, giving them geographic control that lower classes were not entitled to. Huffman seemed to be equating average Redditors (Reddit users) with the lower classes beholden to the whims of the landed gentry (moderators).

“If you’re a politician or a business owner, you are accountable to your constituents. So a politician needs to be elected, and a business owner can be fired by its shareholders,” Huffman said, detailing that Reddit might look into changes allowing average users to oust subreddit moderators through votes, establishing a more democratic process.

Why this is all happening: moderators were locking subs (short for “subreddits,” otherwise known as sections of Reddit) to cause a “blackout” on Reddit that rendered it partially unusable, in protest to new policy changes wherein small-time third-party application (app) makers will now have to pay hefty fees to utilize Reddit’s API in order for their apps to function. Huffman has said the change is a key part of helping make Reddit profitable and that giving away the API was not helping profits.

Also Read:
Meta’s New Twitter Competitor Gets a Name, Employee Showcase: ‘A Platform That Is Sanely Run’

“We are not removing moderators because they are protesting nor are we taking over subreddits for participating in the blackout. We have a unique system of checks and balances (including our moderator Code of Conduct), and we respect the community’s right to protest,” a Reddit spokesperson told TheWrap when asked for comment about the NBC interview.

“Steve’s quote from NBC was included without full context,” the spokesperson continued. “In the conversation, Steve was talking about how users have been vocal about wanting their communities back open, and that there are a significant number of users who disagree with some moderators. In the future, we could look at developing a way for community members to vote out a mod if they disagree with decisions being made that impact the entire community. Steve did not confirm we are moving in this direction; it was a hypothetical comment.”

Reddit’s own frequently asked questions (FAQ) page on the matter highlights the severity of the protests. The blackout was supposed to last just Monday and Tuesday on affected subs, but according to the FAQ, somewhere under 20% of subs remain closed. In the document, Reddit says it will not compel subs to reopen.

In an interview with The Verge, Huffman said though he let third-party app usage of the API exist for a long time, “it was never designed to support third-party apps.” He also said the third-party apps shutting down provided less value than they took. He denied that the blackouts have had any impact on his API decision-making thus far.

Huffman confirmed that Reddit is also making exceptions to the new API rules for certain accessibility-focused apps. “The ones that actually are doing good for our users — RedReader, Dystopia, Luna — like actually adding real value at their own cost? We’ve exempted,” he said. “We’ll carry that cost.”

Also Read:
Reddit to Lay Off 5% of Workforce, Citing Company Restructuring