By requiring admin approval for the changes, Reddit is taking away a lever many communities used to protest the company’s API pricing changes last year. By going private, the community becomes inaccessible to the public, making the platform less usable for the average visitor. And that’s part of the reason behind the change.

Reddit’s users revolted after the site made an unpopular change in 2023. Sensitive to the impact on its business, Reddit shut off the ability to protest using its own tools, which isn't going down well with users.

Moderators will now need Reddit’s permission to turn subreddits private or not-safe-for-work (NSFW) and they are not happy about the change.

Reddit has just changed the rules so moderators of subreddits must get admin approval to switch from public to private, as originally reported by The Verge. This is being seen by many as an attempt to curb sitewide protests,

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.