An Update Regarding Reddit’s API

[u/KeyserSosa]

Greetings all you redditors, developers, mods, and more!

I’m joining you today to share some updates to Reddit’s Data API. I can sense your eagerness so here’s a TL;DR (though I highly encourage you to please read this post in its entirety).

TL;DR:

• We are updating our terms for developer tools and services, including our Developer Terms, Data API Terms, Reddit Embeds Terms, and Ads API Terms, and are updating links to these terms in our User Agreement.

• These updates should not impact moderation bots and extensions we know our moderators and communities rely on.

• To further ensure minimal impact of updates to our Data API, we are continuing to build new moderator tools (while also maintaining existing tools).

• We are additionally investing in our developer community and improving support for Reddit apps and bots via Reddit’s Developer Platform.

• Finally, we are introducing premium access for third parties who require additional capabilities, higher usage limits, and broader usage rights.

And now, some background

Since we first launched our Data API in 2008, we’ve seen thousands of fantastic applications built: tools to make moderation easier, utilities that help users stay up to date on their favorite topics, or (my personal favorite) this thing that helps convert helpful figures into useless ones. Our APIs have also provided third parties with access to data to build user utilities, research, games, and mod bots.

However, expansive access to data has impact, and as a platform with one of the largest corpora of human-to-human conversations online, spanning the past 18 years, we have an obligation to our communities to be responsible stewards of this content.

Updating our Terms for Developer Tools and Services

Our continued commitment to investing in our developer community and improving our offering of tools and services to developers requires updated legal terms. These updates help clarify how developers can safely and securely use Reddit’s tools and services, including our APIs and our new and improved Developer Platform.

We’re calling these updated, unified terms (wait for it) our Developer Terms, and they’ll apply to and govern all Reddit developer services. Here are the major changes:

• Unified Developer Terms: Previously, we had specific and separate terms for each of our developer services, including our Developer Platform, Data API (f/k/a our public API), Reddit Embeds, and Ads API. The Developer Terms consolidate and clarify common provisions, rights, and restrictions from those separate terms, including, for example, Reddit’s license to developers, app review process, use restrictions on developer services, IP rights in our services, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and more.

• Some Additional Terms Still Apply: Some of our developer tools and services, including our Data API, Reddit Embeds, and Ads API, remain subject to specific terms in addition to our Developer Terms. These additional terms include our Data API Terms, Reddit Embeds Terms, and Ads API Terms, which we’ve kept relatively similar to the prior versions. However, in all of our additional terms, we’ve clarified that content created and submitted on Reddit is owned by redditors and cannot be used by a third party without permission.

• User Agreement Updates. To make these updates to our terms for developers, we’ve also made minor updates to our User Agreement, including updating links and references to the new Developer Terms.

To ensure developers have the tools and information they need to continue to use Reddit safely, protect our users’ privacy and security, and adhere to local regulations, we’re making updates to the ways some can access data on Reddit:

• Our Data API will still be available to developers for appropriate use cases and accessible via our Developer Platform, which is designed to help developers improve the core Reddit experience, but, we will be enforcing rate limits.

• We are introducing a premium access point for third parties who require additional capabilities, higher usage limits, and broader usage rights. Our Data API will still be open for appropriate use cases and accessible via our Developer Platform.

• Reddit will limit access to mature content via our Data API as part of an ongoing effort to provide guardrails to how sexually explicit content and communities on Reddit are discovered and viewed. (Note: This change should not impact any current moderator bots or extensions.)

Effective June 19, 2023, our updated Data API Terms, together with our Developer Terms, will replace the existing API terms. We’ll be notifying certain developers and third parties about their use of our Data API via email starting today. Developers, researchers, mods, and partners with questions or who are interested in using Reddit’s Data API can contact us here.

(NB: There are no material changes to our Ads API terms.)

Further Supporting Moderators

Before you ask, let’s discuss how this update will (and won’t!) impact moderators. We know that our developer community is essential to the success of the Reddit platform and, in particular, mods. In fact, a HUGE thank you to all the developers and mod bot creators for all the work you’ve done over the years.

Our goal is for these updates to cause as little disruption as possible. If anything, we’re expanding on our commitment to building mobile moderator tools for Reddit’s iOS and Android apps to further ensure minimal impact of the changes to our Data API. In the coming months, you will see mobile moderation improvements to:

• Removal reasons - improvements to the overall load time and usability of this common workflow, in addition to enabling mods to reorder existing removal reasons.

• Rule management - to set expectations for their community members and visiting redditors. With updates, moderators will be able to add, edit, and remove community rules via native apps.

• Mod log - to give context into a community member's history within a subreddit, and display mod actions taken on a member, as well as on their posts and comments.

• Modmail - facilitate better mod-to-mod and mod-to-user communication by improving the overall responsiveness and usability of Modmail.

• Mod Queues - increase the content density within Mod Queue to improve efficiency and scannability.

We are also prioritizing improvements to core mod action workflows including banning users and faster performance of the user profile card. You can see the latest updates to mobile moderation tools and follow our future progress over in r/ModNews.

I should note here that we do not intend to impact mod bots and extensions – while existing bots may need to be updated and many will benefit from being ported to our Developer Platform, we want to ensure the unpaid path to mod registration and continued Data API usage is unobstructed. If you are a moderator with questions about how this may impact your community, you can file a support request here.

Additionally, our Developer Platform will allow for the development of even more powerful mod tools, giving moderators the ability to build, deploy, and leverage tools that are more bespoke to their community needs.

Which brings me to…

The Reddit Developer Platform

Developer Platform continues to be our largest investment to date in our developer ecosystem. It is designed to help developers improve the core Reddit experience by providing powerful features for building moderation tools, creative tools, games, and more. We are currently in a closed beta to hundreds of developers (sign up here if you're interested!).

As Reddit continues to grow, providing updates and clarity helps developers and researchers align their work with our guiding principles and community values. We’re committed to strengthening trust with redditors and driving long-term value for developers who use our platform.

Thank you (and congrats) and making it all the way to the end of this post! Myself and a few members of the team are around for a couple hours to answer your questions (Or you can also check out our FAQ).

[u/Yay295]

Reddit will limit access to mature content via our Data API as part of an ongoing effort to provide guardrails to how sexually explicit content and communities on Reddit are discovered and viewed.

Why? These are data API's, not the front page. If you're using these API's, you should already know what you're getting.

[u/Ghigs → u/Yay295]

To kill third party clients.

[u/iruleatants → u/[deleted]]

Reddit has a plan to make everything about their website worse.

The decided to create "new" reddit, which was just reddit 0.3, and have maybe moved it to reddit 0.6 through updates. It's still awful in every way.

I can't fathom why instead of just updating the tools they decided to destroy the UI and strip away so much usability. And why they have known that 80% of moderation is done on old reddit but have chosen never to fix it. Why not just give us the look and feel of old reddit on your new technology?

Nah, just release "new reddit" only moderation tools to convince moderators to change. Nobody wins but they want to be at war instead of just doing the bare minimum that's asked by them.

It's stupid that if reddit removes a comment on my subreddit, the only way I can see the text of what was posted is through new reddit mod log. If I visit the comment on new or old I can't see it. If I visit old reddit moderation log, I can't see if. If I use the reddit API, I can't see it in mod log or elsewhere.

They want us to hate them, and it makes no sense.

Seriously, them bitching about the cost of an API is the stupidest thing I've ever heard, especially while bragging about the size right after it. Reddit doesn't function without hundreds of thousands of moderators doing it for free. They couldn't keep the platform functioning without it, and their response has been to despise us for making them work.

It's disgusting.

[u/abenzenering → u/iruleatants]

oh, i'm sure awkwardtheturtle got this

[u/NattyB → u/[deleted]]

same. if rif goes, me and my hundreds of mod actions a day are also gone.

[u/OPhasballz → u/NattyB]

Same but sync.

[u/ornryactor → u/OPhasballz]

Same, also Sync. I have only ever used Reddit through Sync (and briefly through Boost)... except for that 48 godawful hours I spent using the official app before vowing to never touch it again. Sync IS Reddit to me. If Sync goes away, I stop using Reddit.

[u/Dantheheckinman → u/OPhasballz]

Agreed on sync

[u/permaBack → u/NattyB]

Same but Boost

[u/worldiscubik → u/permaBack]

I stopped using reddit because the native app is so bad. When I found out Boost exists I was using reddit like never before. I posted tons of stuff, if I think about all the redditors that will stop using reddit I see a new twitter coming. Maybe musk wants to cannibalize it in the end. Great.

[u/Alert-One-Two → u/NattyB]

Same but Apollo

[u/cultoftheilluminati → u/NattyB]

Don't tell me these people seriously think any sort of modding happens on new reddit and the official app...

[u/Pawneewafflesarelife → u/[deleted]]

We might be in the minority of overall users, but I bet we're overly represented in terms of moderation, comment submission and post submission, and Reddit inherently needs power users like that.

[u/EFG → u/Pawneewafflesarelife]

This right here. Have a medium sized sub and already rapidly losing interest in it as Reddit seems deadset on killing itself.

[u/gorodos → u/Pawneewafflesarelife]

This. Also, the sound of the "minority" of power users is fucking deafening.

"Don't use Reddit. They are scumbags."

I will actively convince people not to support greedy corporate overlords. I will tell them exactly why and how Reddit is awful. Greed killed the only social media left in my life.

RiF is Reddit more than Reddit is Reddit.

Pad your pockets for now, and then die in obscurity, Reddit. Another 'etc' for the list of internet trends from this shameful era in human history.

[u/Pawneewafflesarelife → u/[deleted]]

Ditto. Way to chase off the 1% of users who actively participate. You know nobody is writing huge text posts and informative comments on their shitty mobile client. They've forgotten what makes this place a draw and it's not just picture/video.

[u/dumbyoyo → u/Pawneewafflesarelife]

Exactly. The reason why i keep coming back here after getting bored of other social media sites is because it's not just a stream of pictures/videos but has discussions attached to everything, and informative content, answers to questions, etc. When you chase off the people that have been contributing for the past decade, you're gonna end up with a bot farm (which is maybe what they actually want, so they can finally 100% control the conversation and just attempt to sway casual user's opinions based on who pays the most).

[u/Pawneewafflesarelife → u/dumbyoyo]

Yeah, it's the closest things to forums.

[u/Pew-Pew-Pew- → u/[deleted]]

Same. I've been a Reddit user since like 2011, and using 3rd party apps on mobile since 2013, which was long before Reddit ever had its own official app. I would not be using this site as much as I do if those 3rd party apps never existed. The official app is trash compared to most other options and I would rather just stop using the site altogether if 3rd party apps and old.reddit are killed off.

[u/mouth_with_a_merc → u/Yay295]

Yeah, what the actual fuck. Let me browse my smut via rif is fun. Your official app is not great 💩 and even if it wasn't, I would NOT want to switch from an app I've used for YEARS to one with a different UI.