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.
It’s pretty crazy to watch enshittification play out in real time.
It’s hilarious. Huffy’s idea is to turn Reddit into the Company Store… what’s that, all you unpaid moderators, all you users who spent countless hours posting essays of valuable information? You all want to ACCESS this content that was provided to us free, FOR FREE? EF YOU PAY ME.
He’s got to justify his $193 million compensation on the backs of the unpaid labor of moderators and users who provided the actual thing that made reddit valuable.
Steve Huffman is a carbuncle. When I quit Reddit, I ran a browser plug-in that deleted every single post and comment I ever made. I hope more people do this, and slowly lance this $193 million abscess.