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The company wants to charge for API access. Its volunteer moderators have other ideas

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[-] snowe@programming.dev 43 points 1 year ago

This article has so many inaccuracies… I haven’t talked with a single person that thinks Reddit shouldn’t charge for api access. And the final comment about being legally obligated to pursue profit is just factually incorrect. https://legislate.ai/blog/does-the-law-require-public-companies-to-maximise-shareholder-value

You can find plenty of other sources just like that one saying the same thing. I’m pretty sick of this myth, because it gives all these companies a bogeyman to hide behind.

[-] mem_somerville_kbin@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago

This point struck me too:

Reddit is under no obligation to make its API free. But, it seems, the company has overreached in enforcing the new policy. If its target is the largest AI firms, then it should focus on curbing their parasitic proclivities and not going after beloved and useful software its users and moderators depend on.

This is my feeling. I understand that it could cost something. But the eye-watering rates for the small fish and the speed of the extortion is the issue.

[-] zombiepete@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Think of it as killing two birds with one stone: they monetize users by getting AI firms to pay for all the valuable content redditors have posted over the years, and they kill off app competitors who are giving redditors alternatives to the mobile app.

That’s really all it’s about.

[-] rothaine@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

AI firms will just scrape anyway.

[-] ag_roberston_author@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

Which, somewhat hilariously, will be more resource intensive than the API. It's a part of the reason why companies have APIs, to dissuade scraping.

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this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
260 points (100.0% liked)

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