Reddit Removes Moderators and Takes Over a Major Protest Subreddit

There have been ongoing protests on Reddit for over a month due to a change in the company’s pricing for using its API.

This change has led to many third-party apps stopping their services because they say the cost for using the API is too high. As a show of support, some Reddit moderators decided to make their subreddits private for two days. This meant that nobody could see, post or comment on them. However, this tactic didn’t make any difference, and some subreddits decided to remain private for a longer, unknown period. One such subreddit was r/malefashionadvice, but it reappeared yesterday when Reddit took over and removed the moderators.

The Verge reported that the moderators of r/malefashionadvice made the subreddit private last week and encouraged their 5.4 million members to join their Discord server and Substack. At that time, a Reddit admin sent a message to the moderators warning them that if they didn’t make the subreddit public again, they would be removed. But they didn’t stop their protest and kept r/malefashionadvice private.

Reddit Takes Action Against Moderators

The Verge reported that the original moderators of r/malefashionadvice were removed by Reddit. One moderator said, “We’ve been expecting to be removed for the past few days.” When the subreddit was reopened, there was only one moderator left, ModCodeofConduct, who was the same Reddit admin that had previously warned them.

Even though the subreddit is now visible, it’s still restricted. This means that while people can look at posts and comment, only a few people are allowed to post. So far, there’s only one new post, which is asking users to join the r/malefashionadvice Discord.

Discord is becoming a popular option for those unhappy with the changes at Reddit. The Male Fashion Advice (MFA) Discord server has grown quickly, gaining 3,000 new members in the last week, bringing the total number of members to 5,000.

With r/malefashionadvice back in action, the biggest subreddit still protesting is r/streetwear. This subreddit, with around 4 million members, continues to stay private.