{"id":1953738,"date":"2023-06-22T00:10:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T04:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hackers-infiltrate-reddit-demand-company-pay-4-5-million-abandon-plan-for-new-fees\/"},"modified":"2023-06-22T00:11:20","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T04:11:20","slug":"hackers-infiltrate-reddit-demand-company-pay-4-5-million-abandon-plan-for-new-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hackers-infiltrate-reddit-demand-company-pay-4-5-million-abandon-plan-for-new-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"Hackers breach Reddit, demand $4.5M, drop new fees plan."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhackers-infiltrate-reddit-demand-company-pay-4-5-million-abandon-plan-for-new-fees%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1953738&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A Hacker Group Demands $4.5 Million Ransom from Reddit<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A hacker group known as BlackCat claims it has stolen confidential information from Reddit and is demanding the company pay a $4.5 million ransom and drop plans to charge third-party developers to use its data.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Reddit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2023\/06\/20\/reddit_confirms_blackcat_extortion_attempt\/\">confirmed<\/a> the February hack, saying business information <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014<\/span> but no user data <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014<\/span> was stolen. At first, BlackCat was demanding just the ransom, but after news of the third-party developer fee went viral, the group added that demand.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-new-acting-attorney-general-jeff-rosen-recently-wrote-an-essay-on-foreign-influence-in-us-elections-this-tells-us-a-little-about-his-knowledge-of-whats-going-on-today\/\" title=\"The New Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen Recently Wrote an Essay on Foreign Influence in US Elections \u2013 This Tells Us A Little About His Knowledge of What\u2019s Going On Today\">social media platform<\/a> this month announced it will charge high fees for the use of its data starting July 1. The people who run third-party apps like the popular Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and ReddPlanet say they will have to close up shop.<\/p>\n<p>Apollo\u2019s developer, Christian Selig, has estimated it would cost $20 million a year to adhere to the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/amazon-suffers-massive-web-services-crash-shutting-down-services-like-disney\/\" title=\"Amazon Suffers Massive Web Services Crash, Shutting Down Services Like Disney+\">application programming interface<\/a> (API) policy to keep the app running, one website <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2023\/05\/reddits-api-pricing-results-in-shocking-20-million-a-year-bill-for-apollo\/\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t see how this pricing is anything based in reality or remotely reasonable,\u201d Selig told Artechnica. \u201cI hope it goes without saying that I don\u2019t have that kind of money or would even know how to charge it to a credit card.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moderators made more than 9,000 subreddits private, meaning they\u2019re inaccessible to regular users. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/reddit-readers-revolt-mods-set-48-hour-blackout-to-protest-new-policy\">blackout<\/a> was set to last 48 hours, but some moderators still have their subreddits private.<\/p>\n<p>Just days before the blackout, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said the fees are needed to generate revenue, and providing its API for free is too costly. \u201cReddit needs to be a self-sustaining business, and to do that, we can no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reddit-ceo-compares-moderators-to-landed-gentry-as-widespread-blackout-rages-on\/\" title=\"Reddit CEO likens moderators to 'landed gentry' amidst ongoing blackout.\">longer subsidize commercial entities<\/a> that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hackers-infiltrate-reddit-demand-company-pay-4-5-million-abandon-plan-for-new-fees\/\" title=\"Hackers breach Reddit, demand .5M, drop new fees plan.\">require large-scale data<\/a> use,\u201d he said in a post on the platform.<\/p>\n<p>But in 2021, Reddit claimed it had a valuation of about $10 billion after raising more than $400 million from longtime investor Fidelity Investments. The company planned to go public but has not done so.<\/p>\n<p>Huffman last week <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/reddit-ceo-compares-moderators-to-landed-gentry-as-widespread-blackout-rages-on\">dissed<\/a> the moderators who have kept their subreddits private, comparing them to wealthy aristocracy and threatening to figure out a way to oust them with little discourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re a politician or a business owner, you are accountable to your constituents. So a politician needs to be elected, and a business owner can be fired by its shareholders,\u201d Huffman told NBC, The Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/technology\/reddit-ceo-compares-moderators-to-aristocracy-as-blackout-stretches-on\/ar-AA1cDOwM\">reported<\/a>. \u201cAnd I think, on Reddit, the analogy is closer to the landed gentry: The people who get there first get to stay there and pass it down to their descendants, and that is not democratic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the moderators are digging in. A group that organized the blackout on the r\/ModCoord subreddit said in a statement that Huffman\u2019s comments show Reddit\u2019s communication about the plan to charge for data \u201chas been poor from the very beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have attempted to gaslight us that they want to keep third-party apps while they set prices and timelines no developer can meet. The blowback that is happening now is largely because Reddit launched this drastic change with only 30 days notice,\u201d Reddit user BuckRowdy, a moderator of the subreddit coordinating the protest, wrote on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to ask Reddit to place these changes on pause and explore a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-try-to-legalize-third-trimester-abortions-in-all-50-states\/\" title=\"Democrats Try To Legalize Third Trimester Abortions In All 50 States\">real path forward<\/a> that strikes a balance that is best for the widest range of Reddit users.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>a $4.5 million ransom from Reddit, threatening to release stolen confidential information unless the company paid up. They also demanded that Reddit abandon its plans to charge third-party developers for data usage. Although Reddit confirmed the hack, they assured that only business information, not user data, was compromised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":1953739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1953738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1953738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1953739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1953738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1953738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1953738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}