Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has hinted that in future some subreddits could be paywalled, as the company seeks to devise new sources of income.
He suggested that the company might experiment with paywalled subreddits as it looks to monetize new features. “I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”
This is another move likely to anger Redditors. While the platform is a commercial enterprise, its value derives almost entirely from freely offered user content. That means Redditors feel at least some sense of ownership in a community endeavour, so the company needs to tread carefully when it comes to monetization at user expense.
Welcome! I came over during the API lockdown because I didn’t want to use their shitty app on mobile.
I generally like it more over here, I’m not doom scrolling as much, and while not all of my niche community’s are here, I do feel like I have more of a quality experience in them though.
If Reddit pulls these kinds of moves two more times or so, I’m 100% certain Lemmy will have all the niche communities you’d ever want. This place is much better!
I previously had issues with Reddit before the API drama, and I was happy to find a new similar community where I can hang out with people. While a smaller community, I actually think it’s usually more of a positive than a negative.