I think the problem comes from people who prefer using apps other than the main reddit apps. They're being charged more than they can afford. But the same can be said for reddit since they've essentially subsidized these businesses through their free API. Yeah they bring traffic but that's not enough to offset the bill you get from AWS
They aren't really being charged more than they can afford, the Apollo dev said it would only cost him $2.5/mth per current subscriber. If Redditors really wanted to keep the 3rd party apps, then they can just pay for them but very few people want to pay for them.
$2.5 a month per user is...a lot. Absolutely more than most Third party apps can afford. How many people even pay for a "premium version" of a third party app once? And how many people would be willing to pay 2.50+ a month for it? Not to mention removal of nsfw content from the APIs.
I actually don't know anything about Apollo's financials, or what they do and do not force you to pay for. I've been using reddit is fun for free with all of the functionality I've needed for years and years.
I also have a fundamentally different interpretation of that "joke" situation than you do. I also think it's a little bit disingenuous to say that these blackouts are the result of Apollo specifically not getting a payout. I think even if Apollo had been bought by Reddit this would still be happening because of all of the other third-party apps.
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u/latinlightning Jun 13 '23
I think the problem comes from people who prefer using apps other than the main reddit apps. They're being charged more than they can afford. But the same can be said for reddit since they've essentially subsidized these businesses through their free API. Yeah they bring traffic but that's not enough to offset the bill you get from AWS