Reddit users fill site up with pictures of John Oliver as protest against new rules continues

Moderators have complained about new fees that have led many third-party apps to shut down

(HBO)

Reddit has been filled with images of John Oliver, as user’s protests against the site’s management take a bizarre new turn.

In recent weeks, controversy has been brewing on Reddit after the site announced that it would be charging new fees to developers who wanted to get access to its data. The company said that the change was required to offset the costs incurred by running the site.

Third-party developers said that the site’s prices were too high, and many developers – including those behind the most popular apps, such as Apollo – said they would instead shut down. That prompted outcry from the moderators who run the site.

In protest, thousands of the site’s forums, or subreddits, went “dark” earlier this month. Administrators turned the forums private so that users were unable to see them, in a protest that ran from 12 to 14 June.

That protest led to no change from Reddit. Its chief executive, Steve Huffman, said instead that users would get over the changes and staff suggested those administrators could be removed from their posts.

Since then, many of the site’s biggest forums have been discussing how to continue the protest, given that their demands had not been met. And many – including its “aww”, “pics” and “gifs” subreddits, which rank among the site’s most popular – have committed instead to post pictures of TV comedian John Oliver.

Oliver appeared to enjoy the attention. On Twitter, he wrote “Dear Reddit, excellent work” and went on to share a large thread of pictures of himself, apparently to ensure that users had enough to post.

Other subreddits have continued the protest in their own ways. The subreddit devoted to Apple has filled with posts of its chief executive Tim Cook, for instance.

And two of the site’s top 10 most popular forums – those focused on science and music – are no longer dark, but new posts cannot be added.