~3500 subreddits go private as communities protest Reddit's new API access fees

Thousands of Reddit communities went private for 48 hours in protest at new charges Reddit is imposing on developers of third-party apps, which are used to browse the platform. The blackout covers 3,489 subreddits, including five of the ten most popular, such as r/gaming, r/aww, r/Music, r/todayilearned and r/pics, each with more than 30 million members. Christian Selig, developer of the Apollo app, claimed the fees would cost him $20m (£15.9m) to keep operating, while a Reddit spokesperson said Apollo was "notably less efficient" than other apps and that pricing is based on usage levels comparable to Reddit's own costs. All four named third-party apps, Apollo, Reddit is Fun, Sync and ReddPlanet, have said they will shut down.