Mutiny on Reddit

Thousands of popular subreddits went on a 48-hour blackout on Monday. But many of those communities are continuing indefinitely — and the situation is getting ugly. In today’s Big Story, we’re diving into the drama around one of the most-visited websites in the world.

Are you a Reddit user? Let me know your thoughts at insidertoday@insider.com.

In today’s edition:

• JetBlue planes are getting a very blue makeover.
• Oracle laid off hundreds of employees in its health unit on Thursday, sources told Insider.
• You’ll be able to have a conversation with your Mercedes thanks to built-in ChatGPT.

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SCOTUS, DeSantis, & Russia

• A major lawsuit challenging Biden’s student-loan forgiveness might have just been undermined by a new ruling from conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
• Ron DeSantis signed a bill that banned direct-to-consumer car sales in Florida — but left an exception for Tesla.
• A Russian unit was hit by artillery while waiting two hours for their commander to give a motivational speech, per a report. Russian military bloggers are furious.

What’s going on at Reddit

That protest appears to be lasting indefinitely, with many popular communities still choosing to remain locked.

So, what’s all this about? The blackout is a protest against recent changes to Reddit’s API pricing (the behind-the-scenes code which allows third-party apps to plug in Reddit’s content and functionality). The impact of these changes is leading popular Reddit clients like Apollo to shut down.

And it seems the strike isn’t blowing over the way Reddit CEO Steve Huffman suggested it would. He also vowed to keep “moving forward” with the changes that helped spark the protest in the first place.

But Huffman has warned employees not to wear Reddit swag in public in case they are targeted amid the revolt. And in a new interview with NBC, he said he plans to change the site’s rules to allow users to vote out moderators who are leading the protest.

Amid all of this, more than 2.6 billion Reddit subscribers are estimated to have been affected, and apps like Discord are perfectly positioned to pick up the slack.

JetBlue, Oracle, & more

• JetBlue’s planes are getting fresh paint jobs. The millennial-friendly airline says it plans to paint its aircrafts blue and outfit them with a new tail design. But experts caution that most airplanes are white for practical reasons. Check it out here.
• Talk with your Mercedes-Benz. The German carmaker announced a new partnership with ChatGPT that could allow drivers to have full conversations with their vehicles. The pilot program is open to around 900,000 drivers. Get the full details here.
• Orca encounters are now daily near Portugal and Spain, report says. A website that tracks orca incidents said that there was one “every day, on average.” The attacks have become more common recently and could continue increasing. Dive into it here.
• Family gave up searching for a rare coin in a stash of 800,000 pennies. The family reportedly spent an hour trying to find a rare penny in the hoard. But they put the whole stash up for sale after abandoning their quest for a collector’s coin. Get the full story here.
• Oracle’s layoffs. The firm laid off hundreds of employees, rescinded job offers, and cut open positions in its $28 billion Cerner health unit after troubles with a massive government contract. Get the full story here.
• An elite prep school was accused of pay-to-play admissions. A lawsuit accused the top NYC prep school Horace Mann of accepting a $1 million pledge from a businessman in exchange for giving his children a leg up in the admissions process. Read more.
• “I always thought it was my dream to work at Disney World. I quit after a month from burnout.” Samantha Tetrault said she was so excited to work at her “happy place,” but the reality didn’t live up to her expectations. Here’s why.

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True Cost

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