Reddit's decision to raise the pricing for their API led to worries about how third-party Reddit browsing platforms or moderation tools might continue to function. Protests against Reddit's move to raise their API pricing led to a massive blackout protest on Reddit, with over 8,000 subreddits going private or "dark" in order to limit Reddit functionality.

The success of this protest is debatable, given that Reddit CEO Steve "spez" Huffman made it a point to say that Reddit will not reverse its API changes. This doubling down led to people coming up with a unique way to give the finger to the Reddit administration in general and /u/spez in particular. Here's where jokes like praise spez and heil spez originated.

Where Do Jokes Saying 'Praise Spez' And 'Heil Spez' Originate?

After Reddit announced that they would be changing and raising the price for access to its API, Reddit CEO and admin Steve "spez" Huffman bore the brunt of criticism levied against the Reddit administration. Distrust of spez grew after he held an "AMA" or "Ask Me Anything" session defending the company's position, with the post getting downvoted to zero karma.

It was around this time that the phrases "praise spez" (perhaps a reference to popular meme Praise Geraldo) and "heil spez" grew popular as post titles. These statements used satire to criticize spez, with an early example being a June 16th, 2023 post by /u/Jeremiah_Beard that gathered over 37,000 upvotes in a month.

How Did Jokes Saying 'Praise Spez' Or 'Heil Spez' Spread?

The usage of both phrases in post titles continued to gain recognition on Reddit, with a June 18th post by /u/gsdkilocharge556 using the meme gathering over 5,700 upvotes in a month.

But not everyone necessarily "got" the joke. Later that month, Redditor /u/GoeeyDuck1 asked a question about the meme in /r/askreddit.

Nevertheless, 'Praise Spez' and 'Heil Spez' posts continued to go viral on Reddit, as seen in the following examples.

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For the full history of the praise spez / heil spez meme, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.