Reddit controversy continues, with disabled moderators criticizing latest news

There’s no sign of any letup in the Reddit controversy. After the company threatened protesting moderators, it’s now facing kickback from moderators with disabilities …

The Reddit controversy so far

The mess began when Reddit revealed would be demanding $20M a year for access to the API used by popular third-party app Apollo. The developer responded that the app would have to close as a result. A planned protest by what was initially a few dozen of the biggest subreddits eventually turned into more than 8,000 subreddits going dark for at least 48 hours. Others found a simple way to demonetize their subreddits.

Things got so bad that Reddit CEO and founder Steve Huffman had to warn employees not to wear the Reddit logo in public, all the while making it clear that he had no interest in the views of Reddit users. He doubled down by threatening to replace moderators – with more threats issued just last week.

Moderators with disabilities protest

One of the problems with killing third-party apps is that these included accessibility features relied on by moderators with disabilities.

Reddit promised to make improvements to its own accessibility features, and said that third-party apps specifically designed for disabled users would be exempted from the high API fees. However, many feel that’s too little, too late, as The Verge reports.

Based on the replies to the announcement post, however, many are still unhappy with the company’s plans. “A multibillion dollar corporation forcing disabled people (including the profoundly disabled) to simply ‘learn new tools,’ and to stop using the accessibility tools they’re used to — the tools they depend on — to access / moderate the communities they depend on — is cruel,” wrote PotRoastPotato, a moderator who has advocated for disabled communities as part of the recent protests across Reddit.

“As long as there are disabled users who depend on and are accustomed to the accessibility features of third-party apps, these apps need to be preserved,” PotRoastPotato added in an email to The Verge.

In particular, moderators are upset that they already have a good accessible app in the form of Apollo, and other apps don’t match that experience. Some also object to expecting disabled moderators to use different apps to other people.

“Allowing free access to specific apps that are specifically built for certain classes of users is like asking them to use separate drinking fountains.” – Parsifal

“The fact these commercial apps are apparently more popular among disabled users than the pure accessibility apps Reddit is whitelisting means these apps are serving the disabled community better than the very few options Reddit is leaving them.” – PotRoastPotato

Others have pointed out the ridiculousness of deliberately creating a problem, and saying that a solution will be almost a month away, when the company has full control over the timeline.

“So, just to be clear, moderators who depend on assistive tech will be losing access to Community Settings, Ban Evasion Settings, and Additional user settings for the better part of a month, and other mod surfaces for over a month (assuming you’re able to keep your timeline)? And the next time we’ll be updated on this is less than 24 hours before they’ll be temporarily losing access? And all of this to keep to a timeline for revoking this access that is completely within the companies power to push back until you have these features in place natively?” – AdhesiveCheese