Reddit’s CEO Faced Intense Criticism Over Killing a Popular Third-Party App, Apollo. His Response Is What No Leader Should Ever DoThe company’s new API access fees are supposed to generate revenue. Instead, they’re alienating everyone. Inc.

  • kestrel7@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    Yeah, journalists are really dropping the ball on communicating what I think is very simple: it’s fine for Reddit to charge [something] for their API, but these prices are totally unreasonable. Charging hundreds of thousands of dollars for something which costs pennies to provide is absurd and unethical in any context.

    • 108beads@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I wholly agree that it’s unethical to charge $thousands for a product that costs pennies to make. And yet, that appears to be the business model becoming more and more common, or at least more unapologetically blatant.

      Healthcare, for example; insulin and epipens as the poster children. Gouging in post-pandemic grocery and consumer staples prices. The ballooning of C-suite compensation in service industries, while wages for those doing the service regress with inflation.

      Journalists may be dropping the ball, but they have to keep their “engagement” numbers up, too. They may be dropping the ball because exploring ethical lapses may feel like headlining “water is wet!”