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Some subreddits could be paywalled, hints Reddit CEO (9to5mac.com)

submitted 3 months ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has hinted that in future some subreddits could be paywalled, as the company seeks to devise new sources of income.

He suggested that the company might experiment with paywalled subreddits as it looks to monetize new features. “I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”

This is another move likely to anger Redditors. While the platform is a commercial enterprise, its value derives almost entirely from freely offered user content. That means Redditors feel at least some sense of ownership in a community endeavour, so the company needs to tread carefully when it comes to monetization at user expense.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 51 points 3 months ago (5 children)

...

Wouldn't the contributors to those subs just make a new one that's not paywalled?

Reddit is going to be asking users to pay to generate content on specific subs, but they're forgetting again that the sub isn't the important part, it's the users.

This would just fracture the biggest subs and destroy the communities.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 5 points 3 months ago

I've seen some content creators having a discord channel that is pay to get into where the content creator participates in it as a way to generate additional money. I suspect Reddit wants to do something similar and take a cut of fee.

And I fully expect this to devolve into becoming a new OnlyFans.

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