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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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[–] 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm assuming this is going to be more like a creator space type thing like patreon/OF. It will make reddit worse of course because patreon and OF already exist we don't need reddit for that but as long as they aren't trying to paywall user generated content on existing subs I don't really care that much tbh.

If they paywall my old comments that I've left up to help others I'm going to go back and delete them.

[–] Cataphract@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I could also see them banning outside links for patreon etc if they're trying to take over that space and get a cut. Huh, guess they're not happy just getting money from user content, they might feel like they deserve part of the creator's profits as well.

[–] 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

As long as the creator knows what they're getting into when they make a paid subreddit it doesn't really bother me. And it's honestly probably a good plan monetarily for reddit. But just like when games started adding microtransactions it's likely to change the core of reddit even further from what I used to like about it. But I'm on lemmy now anyway...