Reddit blocks api access for modtool Pushshift, first ban since change

Reddit has shut down API access for the popular Pushshift service. The tool was widely used by subreddit moderators. Pushshift is the first tool to have API access shut down after Reddit changed its API’s terms and conditions last month.

A Reddit admin writes on the subreddit for moderators that the api access that Pushshift had will be shut down from Tuesday. According to the mod, Pushshift would violate the new rules of the API, but what is especially important is that the makers of the app do not respond to reports from Reddit. The mods would have contacted the makers several times via different platforms, but ultimately received no answer.

Pushshift is the first known service to be affected by Reddit’s new API rules. Last month, the platform announced that it would now charge for API access, but it is still unclear what that will cost. Reddit says it wants to allow certain exceptions, but isn’t clear on that. The message that the moderator has now posted online about Pushshift also does not say how Pushshift is abusing the API.

Moderators on the platform primarily used Pushshift to monitor communities and perform certain mod tasks. Reddit says it wants to add certain features of Pushshift to its moderator tools. These include permalinks for deleted posts and more context for bans and deleted posts. Reddit has been trying for years to make modtools so that moderators no longer use third-party tools, but mods generally find those tools too limited and use them infrequently.

Pushshift also has many other functionalities. For example, the tool was used for removeddit, an alternative platform where deleted Reddit content could be found.