I think one of the biggest issues that Reddit has with third party apps is that they don’t have control over the user experience.
I think Reddit is experimenting a lot with their app to see what works and doesn’t work to get new users engaged. Note that I said new users. Reddit doesn’t care about old users. They only care about growing and getting new users engaged.
Reddit implemented features like community chat, community voice/talk spaces, subreddit suggestions, NFTs etc.
I think it’s harder for Reddit to keep experimenting and seeing what sticks when 3rd party apps won’t or don’t implement those features.
So yeah, bottom line is, Reddit wants more control and Reddit wants new users that are engaged.
I understand why they do it. I don’t agree with how they went about it. I’m mostly upset that they think 3rd party apps are riding on Reddits succes when Reddit itself is riding on free user content/moderation/voting. It’s our content and we should be able to consume it the way we want to.