Reddit, a community that relies on volunteer moderation to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for users, has now taken to threatening those very volunteers. During recent protests against API changes, thousands of subreddits led by tens of thousands of volunteer moderators, blacked out their communities. Despite saying that the company does, in fact, “respect the community’s right to protest,” Reddit has done an apparent U-turn by stating that “if a moderator team unanimously decides to stop moderating, [Reddit administrators] will invite new, active moderators to keep these spaces open and accessible to users.” Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has gone so far as to suggest rule changes that would allow moderators to be voted out. This is in stark contrast to Reddit’s previous statements that they won’t force protesting communities to reopen and that moderators are “free to run their communities as they choose.”

These threats against the very individuals responsible for maintaining Reddit’s communities cannot be ignored. Between June 12-14, we as Redditors showed how much power we truly have, and we are prepared to do that once again. During the blackout, approximately 7.4 billion comments from 77 million authors went dark. Even now, over 4,000 subreddits remain closed. Based on these recent comments, we expect that number to rise. This has impacted ad revenue, search engine results, and increased traffic to alternate sites. We’re disappointed that Reddit has resorted to threats and is once again going back on its word.

Volunteer moderators are the lifeblood of Reddit's communities. Our dedication shapes the platform's success. It is crucial for Reddit to listen to our concerns and work with us in order to maintain the vibrant communities that make Reddit what it is. Until our voices are heard and our demands met, we will continue our blackouts - without fear of any threat.

“Our whole philosophy has been to give our users choice. [...] We really want users to use whatever they want." -Ellen Pao, 2014