Is Reddit's blackout just the beginning of more digital protests?

Groups on the largest online discussion platform, Reddit, have been protesting since last weekend. They’re taking action against the new policy announced by the developers, which they aim to implement quickly. As the platform has over 50 million daily users, this protest is a strong statement. So, how significant is this impact on the social media landscape? At Dorst & Lesser, we dive deeper into this matter.

What’s the matter?

Reddit is the prime example of the growing decentralized internet: platforms made up of various subgroups where participants are (to some extent) in control. For instance, many developers even create their own apps for their subgroups. Popular examples include Apollo and Redditisfun, which also offers more functionality than the official app. Creating your own app was free until now, but Reddit is going to charge a lot of money from July first. The announcement came late and is impossible for many third-party developers to afford. To counter this, some 7,600 subgroups have locked themselves out in recent days. Some have even decided to go on lockdown indefinitely, which will clearly reduce the number of daily users.

Does an online protest really make sense?

Two days after the protest, CEO Steve Huffman sends an internal message, urging people to ignore all the ‘noise’ and that this blackout will pass by itself. In counter-reaction, many users say they are switching to the almost-but-not-forgotten Tumblr and subgroups are filled with large video files of literal noise.

Will this force Huffman to do something about the policy after all? We think so! We think social media is the ideal way to quickly reach and activate a large number of people, take an example from the Black Lives Matter protests that took over your timeline in no time. Many influencers also use their channels to promote their larger ideals. So as far as we’re concerned, social media will become an increasingly big place for dissent. What do you think?