Reddit removes moderators from top subreddits amid protests

Reddit has begun removing moderators from top subreddits as they decide to turn on the explicit content filter to hit at the company’s ad revenue.

At the beginning of June 2023, Reddit announced a series of API changes that saw third-party apps like Apollo facing monthly bills of roughly $2,000,000.

Redditors quickly revolted, organizing a protest on June 12 that saw thousands of subreddits go private for an indefinite amount of time.

After allegedly receiving messages from admins threatening to remove moderators of private subreddits, many decided to open but with the explicit content filter enabled on all posts as it prevents Reddit from running ads.

Now, Reddit has reportedly started to remove moderators from some of its top subreddits as protests against the API changes continue.

Reddit forcefully removed moderators

In a report from The Verge, Reddit has removed mods from several top subreddits that have opted to enable the explicit content filter on all posts.

The Verge reached out to Reddit, whose spokesperson shared that moderators incorrectly marking a community as explicit is “a violation of both our content policy and Moderator Code of Conduct.”

YouTube: OxfordUnion/Reddit

Soon after getting a reply from Reddit spokesperson, Tim Rathschmidt, a moderator for r/mildlyinteresting, reached out to explain that its mod team had been reinstated by a different admin than the one that initially removed them from the subreddit.

While r/MildlyInteresting got its mods back just a few hours after them being removed, other subs that lost their mods after they decided to enable the explicit content filter like r/interestingasf*ck, r/TIHI, and r/sh*ttyprolifetips are still unmoderated at the time of writing.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has maintained his opinion on the protests, stating that they will pass sooner than later and has no plans to revert the API changes.