This is something I can’t seem to figure out. Let’s just assume that 3rd party apps are the reason reddit is losing money. So, it would make sense that reddit wants to start charging for their API access. But why is the burden on the apps and not the users?
Because it was never actually about the ‘cost’ of the API. The plethora of tracking data they get if they convince people to use the official app is worth far more than a small recurring fee to users.
As well as the tracking data there’s also the loss of advertising revenue that would be generated via the official app. I don’t remember ever seeing adverts in boost.