As some subreddits continue blackouts to protest Reddit’s plans to charge high prices for its API, Reddit has informed the moderators of those subreddits that it has plans to replace resistant moderation teams to keep spaces “open and accessible to users.”
Edit, there seems to be conflicting reporting on this issue:
While the company does “respect the community’s right to protest” and pledges that it won’t force communities to reopen, Reddit also suggests there’s no need for that.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/15/23762501/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-interview-protests-blackout
I mean, yes, ofc they are going to eventually do this. The team at Reddit isn’t going to just let their popular subreddits shutdown indefinitely. They just kick the mods out, moderate themselves or bring some other scabs in to do it.
I think it’s the very problem of Reddit. Too much power at the top in a centralized way and too much power to mods of large subreddits with…more subscribers than countries have population.
I think the fediverse is just more the answer top to bottom for more community control.