Thousands of Reddit communities will be unavailable for 48 hours as a form of protest against new charges imposed by Reddit on third-party app developers.

The decision has sparked backlash from moderators of major subreddits, leading to approximately 3,500 subreddits being made private.

Reddit heavily relies on community moderation, with unpaid moderators ensuring the platform’s functionality.

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However, Reddit argues that it needs to be a self-sustaining business and plans to limit access to explicit content through third-party apps.

Developers of popular third-party apps, including Apollo, Reddit is Fun, Sync, and ReddPlanet, have announced their shutdown due to the new API pricing.

The blackout and protest aim to demonstrate the significance of moderators in running the site and to urge Reddit to reconsider its changes.