Twitter and Reddit's high-priced APIs are bad news for the internet's future

There’s a concerning new trend among social media platforms when it comes to APIs, and it threatens how the modern internet works for normal everyday users.If you’re not a programmer or developer, perhaps you scroll on by whenever there’s an article about social media APIs. Perhaps you’re not familiar with what they are. API stands for application programming interface. Basically, they allow one application to access information and communicate with another application. If you’ve ever used an unofficial, third-party client, like say Apollo for Reddit or Twitterrific for Twitter, you’ve used an app that could not exist without that social media platform’s API. Do you use an app like Hootsuite to post your content to social platforms? That’s only possible due to APIs. Are you a livestreamer using third-parties services like Streamlabs to announce new subscribers live on-screen? That works because of APIs.However, recent moves from Twitter and Reddit to charge developers tens of thousands to millions of dollars for API access can destroy all of that.So, why should you care about what’s going on with APIs right now? Well, since the very early days of social media, many platforms provided developers with access to their APIs at no-cost. Some form of free API access has existed for as long as social media has. Friendster had it. MySpace had it. There has long been sort of this unwritten rule that users provide these social media platforms with data via their content and usage, platforms utilize that data to monetize, and to show…Twitter and Reddit's high-priced APIs are bad news for the internet's future