r/Android gives statement: It will extend its shutdown, but not indefinitely

Today we will see the bulk of the Reddit protest wind down. In a few hours, a good chunk of the protesting subreddits will come back online for all. However, a prominent few — including some with tens of millions of subscribers — will stay dark indefinitely. These subreddits will remain down until Reddit concedes to demands related to keeping third-party apps alive.

Here at Android Authority, we are most concerned about one of the most popular subreddits in our industry: r/Android. We had the opportunity to speak with some of the subreddit’s moderators, who have spent the bulk of the day discussing what steps to take for the forum.

Now, we can confirm that r/Android will continue to stay dark for a bit longer. The team told us that it will not come back until at least June 20, 2023, at 8:00 PM ET. Between now and then, the subreddit will decide whether to reopen, join the subreddits that are going dark indefinitely, or do something else.

As of right now, r/Android has over two million subscribers.

You can read the full statement from the sub’s moderators below. In the meantime, check out r/ModCoord and r/Save3rdPartyApps for up-to-date info on what’s happening.

Statement from r/Android moderators

r/Android will be extending our blackout, and will be private until June 21st, 2023 UTC / June 20th, 2023 20:00 EDT / June 20th, 2023 17:00 PDT. r/Android has not ruled out an indefinite blackout, but also is not opposed to joining the indefinite blackout. r/Android will continue to monitor the situation and is prepared to continue to extend our blackout if the situation does not show positive improvements. This is not the first time Reddit has shown a continued lapse in judgement, and communication, for volunteers who do their work essentially for free. Reddit is a community that thrives off community itself.

We sympathize with those who want to see the subreddit. We’ve gotten many requests to open back up, but truth of the matter is, is that Reddit is just a secondary community. For those upset, we encourage you to listen and understand why we’re protesting. Secondly, to the sites that contribute a plethora of content to the subreddit, we thank you.

We stand with communities like r/blind who need third party apps for accessibility and developers whose hard work has provided essential tools that the official app lacks for moderation. If the mod team is forcibly replaced, then Reddit admins will have shown their true colors.

We encourage the readers to visit other content creators on the internet, and we hope to see you when Reddit is back.