Why Do People Hate Spez on Reddit?

For years, Reddit has been a platform where folks can discuss fan theories, break down leaks, and even argue about who the a—— is in a given situation. While it, like any online platform, has been home to toxicity and misinformation in the past, people have continued to use Reddit and have even found ways to fine tune the experience to be more user friendly than its own developers have made it.

Unfortunately, the team behind Reddit has been in hot water throughout 2023.

Backlash against Reddit has gotten so bad that users have been voicing their outrage over it, specifically aiming it toward Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman, commonly known by his platform username Spez. Throughout his history at the company, he’s invited plenty of controversy already. Now, he’s essentially become the face of massive policy changes for the platform that have received near-universal criticism. Why do people hate Spez so much? He’s continued to stoke the flames in 2023.

Spez co-founded Reddit in 2005 alongside fellow programmer Aaron Swartz and entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian. He’s been active in the role ever since and even earned a spot in Fortune magazine‘s “40 Under 40” column. However, Spez has earned vitriol among the internet on multiple occasions. Most recently, he’s been at the forefront of major controversial changes to Reddit’s API (application programming interface) policies.

In April 2023, Reddit announced that it was planning to roll out paid access to API, a function that has been free on the platform since 2008. The new policy has all but forced third-party applications on Reddit to shut down. Many users and moderators who use these third-party apps to improve their overall user experience on Reddit have expressed outrage over the new charges.

Users subsequently staged a protest in mid-June by slowing or ceasing all activity on the platform in a site-wide boycott.

Spez attempted to clear the air in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) conference that same month, but was reportedly met with “seemingly universal anger,” according to The Verge. During this conference, he doubled down on the site’s API charges, which certainly didn’t help things.