Reddit's latest policy change could stifle future protests against the platform

Reddit is changing its rules in a way that may ensure its mods never go rogue again.On Monday, Reddit’s VP of community, Laura Nestler, announced in a post on the platform’s r/modnews subreddit that the company was changing Community Type settings rules. Going forward, moderators will be required to submit a request to Reddit instead of being able to just change the setting immediately on their own.Community Type settings on subreddits are typically set by moderators and change a subreddit’s visibility from public view to restricted or private. Mods can also change the Community Type settings from SFW (safe for work) to NSFW (not safe for work), which restrict access to the group by age. SEE ALSO: Reddit CEO hints that subreddit paywalls are on the way According to Nestler, in an interview with The Verge, Reddit has been talking about this change behind-the-scenes since she joined the company in 2021.”When a public community goes private, all redditors (even members of that community) lose access to the community and its content,” Nestler said in the announcement posted on Reddit. “Outside of extenuating circumstances, communities should honor the expectations they set — public communities should remain accessible to all; private communities should remain private.”Stifling future Reddit protestsWhether or not Reddit has been discussing this change prior to the Reddit blackout protests of last year, it’ll be hard for users to see this as anything but a change meant to stifle future dissent.In June 2023, thousands of Reddit communities, known as subreddits,…Reddit's latest policy change could stifle future protests against the platform