Christian Selig, the iOS developer who ran the beloved third-party Reddit client Apollo, is joining the new iteration of Digg as an advisor.
Earlier this year, Digg’s original founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian acquired what was left of Digg in an attempt to revitalize what was formerly known as “the internet’s homepage.” Rose and Ohanian were already a fascinating pairing — the two had previously seen each other as rivals, since Digg and Reddit were fierce competitors.
By adding Selig to the mix, Rose and Ohanian are further signaling that the new Digg wants to shake things up.
Selig played a prominent role in the backlash against Reddit’s increased API pricing in 2023, which made free apps like Apollo — which offered an enhanced browsing experience for Reddit users — impossible to run. In a Reddit post that went viral, Selig told users that in order to keep Apollo running as-is under the new API pricing, he would need to pay about $1.7 million per month. Needless to say, Apollo shut down, much to the Reddit community’s disappointment.
“We’re excited to have Selig bring that same craft and community-first thinking to Digg, helping us build something that feels good to use and even better to be a part of,” said Digg CEO Justin Mezzell in a statement.
Digg is embarking on a quest to make the social internet feel fun again, as opposed to its current state, where AI shrimp Jesus and other artificially generated slop have taken over our feeds. But Digg isn’t quite ready to open to the public just yet. Last month, Digg opened signups for an early-access program that it’s calling “Groundbreakers,” which asks for a one-time $5 fee to keep bots out. (The proceeds from the program are being donated to nonprofits chosen by the Digg community.)
In the announcement of Selig’s role, Mezzell included a cheeky reference to the API drama at Reddit. “I simply won’t comment on that. We’re charting our own course here at Digg,” Mezzell said. “But if I did comment, I would probably say ‘[redact] me sideways, what a fumble.’ But that would only be if I did say something publicly.”
