It might have started as mods trying to protest reddit, but reddit has only made the situation look worse for themselves. Objections are smoothed over with frantic last-second assurances that apps that provide accessibility or mod tools will continue to have free API access - It’s hard to take those at face value when they are only provided now, and not while the changes were being announced (and no delays to the api change rollout)

On top of that, reddit’s dishonesty in the AMA didn’t help at all, and the leaked emails really show that the CEO doesn’t view a significant portion of reddit’s users as valuable or meaningful stakeholders. It might have started as one thing, but reddit’s reaction has really turned it into another - they clearly don’t give a shit about their users, so until reddit demonstrates they do protests are likely to continue on many reddits. Their lack of good faith during this whole situation has probably turned off many people who wouldn’t have otherwise cared that much.