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YSK: On July 5th, Reddit will be removing all mature communities from all apps but their own, even if you pay for them. Here's what you can do. [Meta]
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ExcitingishUsername is in META
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TL;DR: Reddit's new policies will censor our communities completely for many users, and stifle innovative apps and accessibility, all while ignoring ongoing child sexual exploitation on the site. We are restricting our communities in protest, and to bring attention to these issues. Many users will need to follow instructions below to continue accessing our communities after Reddit's censorship goes into effect. Our associated personals communities, linked in the sidebar, will remain open, to avoid disrupting users' off-site activities.

We will update this post if this situation develops, or if any corrections/clarifications need to be made.

Updated 18 JUN: Corrected some broken source links.

Here's a detailed overview of the situation:

  • If you use Scroller, Apollo, RIF, Sync, Slide, Boost, Narwhal, BaconReader, Relay, ReddPlanet, or any app other than the one by Reddit, Inc., you will no longer be able to see any of our communities after July 5th. They will be completely removed, even for premium users paying for monthly subscriptions [source]. Follow the instructions below for how to continue accessing our communities.
  • Most of these apps have stated they will be shutting down altogether, largely due to Reddit's price-gouging on such short notice, and/or their prohibition on allowing apps to even cover these new costs by running ads; both issues Reddit has flatly refused to compromise on [source 1] [source 2] [source 3] [source 4] [source 5] [source 6].
  • Reddit appears intent on making their one app the only way to access our communities, and it is likely more restrictions will be placed on Mobile Web; Reddit has already trialed shutting it off altogether, and it still appears to be disabled for most users [source].
  • Reddit has made libelous statements about 3rd-party developers [source 1], and their CEO lashed out rather than explain or back up these claims with any evidence [source 2] [source 3].
  • Reddit's words on why they're restricting mature content, suggesting it's for safety reasons, directly contradict their own actions. In particular, Reddit's handling of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on their platform is worse than any service we've ever used or moderated on; and this is coming from individuals with mod experience on darknet services. Getting CSAM taken down can take dozens of requests over a year or more [source 1] [source 2] [source 3] [source 4] [source 5]. In response to some of our reports, Reddit has unhelpfully suggested that they expect unpaid untrained volunteer community moderators to patrol and report content in active CSAM trading rings, rather than shutting them down [source 6]. At the time of this writing, some of this content, reported over a year ago, is still being hosted by Reddit.
  • Reddit's initially vague language and hostile terms affecting moderation bots (they did ultimately concede to allowing these, but not without much friction and confusion), along with bot developers leaving Reddit over the shutdown of the 3rd-party apps they personally rely on, or over Reddit's mishandling of CSAM, has led many developers to leave. This has resulted in the shutdown of many widely-used bots used to protect minors, to protect communities from brigades and disinformation, and to help communities remain safe and on-topic [source 1]. The CSAM concerns, which predate the API announcements, are what resulted in the shutdown of our very own verification process several months ago [source 2] [source 3].
  • Restrictions on access to legitimate mature content communities will inevitably result in the proliferation of illegitimate ones, deliberately tagged as non-explicit content to circumvent blocks, and poorly-moderated due to lack of support and resources. We believe this will likely lead to increased exposure of minors to improperly-tagged mature content, as well as an increase of harmful illegal content on Reddit as a whole.

Here's what you can do:

  • It should be possible, but may be slightly difficult, to continue to access our communities after July 5th via https://old.reddit.com/ in a mobile browser. It may be necessary to use the "Request Desktop Site" feature of your phone's browser to prevent Reddit from trying to force you to install the app. Bookmark this URL on your phone and test it out now, so your access is not shut off on the 5th. This older interface isn't mobile-optimized, and may work better in landscape mode. However, community moderators do have far more control over the design and layout of our communities on Old Reddit; if enough users begin accessing our community this way, we will take additional steps to increase usability on mobile to the greatest extent possible. Please report any issues encountered when viewing our communities this way, and we will do what we can to fix them.
  • Some have suggested to cease financially supporting Reddit until such time that Reddit makes our communities available under reasonable terms to all users who wish to see them; stop paying for premium subscriptions, awards, or collectible avatars, browse Reddit from a computer using Firefox with the uBlock Origin extension to block ads, or root or jailbreak your mobile device to install an ad-blocker.
  • If you use Reddit's official app or browse our communities from a computer, you won't be directly affected by this. Obviously, installing the official crapp is a way to continue browsing here, and it comes with great features such as tons of ads, broken search, worse interface and accessibility, and slightly less spyware than TikTok or Facebook. We really can't discommend it enough.
  • There is an organized blackout protesting the app API pricing changes; however, maintaining access to mature content is not part of most participating communities' stated demands. More information, including additional ways to support 3rd-party apps, is available on r/Save3rdPartyApps; and r/TechSupport's wiki gives a good overview of the issues as they impact Reddit as a whole, although some of their information on impacts to NSFW communities is outdated. Remember to politely make your voice heard that you also want 3rd-party apps to be able to actually view our communities!

What this means for the future of our communities:

  • We will not be permanently closing our communities or voluntarily moving them off of Reddit. However, we would be foolish if we did not begin the process of diversifying our communities beyond just a single platform. Reddit's lack of responsibility towards user safety and harmful content, and their deficient communication and inconsistent stance early on over critical issues like whether we'd be cut off from our mod tools and bots, and the indifference shown by many of Reddit's largest communities towards the mass censorship of mature content, lead us to question whether it's only a matter of time til we are shown the door. We do not believe that one company alone should have the power to censor our community and its users, and increasing our reach beyond a single platform will help to safeguard our continued existence. Anyone who may be able to help with this should message the mods. Some of our communities already have Matrix chatroom channels, and any further associated spaces which we deem relevant will be added to the sidebar over the coming weeks and months.
  • Most of our mature content communities will be locking posts and comments, other than this announcement, starting June 12th, while we evaluate our options and await a response from Reddit. To prevent brigading and outside interference, only those who have previously participated in one of our communities will be permitted to comment on this post; all others are subject to removal.
  • Our verification process remains closed, due to the above dispute with Reddit over content moderation issues unrelated to the recent API changes. Currently, users verified on r/SexSells and ManyVids can still verify, but we don't have a working method for others. The sole remaining developer working on this feature of our bot plans to quit Reddit over this new round of changes, and so we really don't have a timeline on when we'll be able to get this fixed. It is understandably very difficult to motivate people to invest substantial effort to re-write features and policies that were removed in protest of Reddit hosting CSAM, especially when Reddit refuses to acknowledge or explain why this happened, remove the remaining abusive images, or offer any kind of assurance that this won't continue to happen over and over again.
  • Our associated personals and R4R communities, linked in the sidebar, will remain open, to avoid disrupting users' off-site activities. Availability of verification methods on these communities will remain unaffected, to ensure user safety.

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