Slack Threatens to Delete Nonprofit Coding Club's Data unless Paid $50k

In a shocking turn of events, Slack, the popular collaborationware platform, has sent a nonprofit hacking club for teens, known as Hack Club, an ultimatum: pay $50,000 within a week or face the loss of their message archive. The sudden demand has left many in the tech community stunned and questioning the motives behind Slack's actions.

Hack Club, which was founded in 2013 with the aim of promoting coding skills among young people, relies heavily on Slack for communication and collaboration among its members. However, it appears that the platform's parent company, Slack Technologies, has changed its mind about supporting the club's mission.

"We were told that if we didn't pay the $50,000 by Friday last week, they would delete our entire message archive," said Max Kanat-Alexander, co-founder of Hack Club. "It was a really tough pill to swallow, and it made us realize that we need to find a new platform to host our community."

According to Kanat-Alexander, Slack's CEO had initially reached out to the club to discuss potential changes to their terms of service. However, when the organization declined to pay the requested fee, the platform suddenly changed its stance and issued the demand for payment.

"We were trying to smooth things over with them, but it seems like they had already made up their mind," Kanat-Alexander said. "It's frustrating because we've been using Slack for years and have always been good about paying our bills on time."

As a result of the incident, Hack Club has decided to shift its strategy and explore alternative platforms that will support its mission without demanding exorbitant fees.

"We're looking at other options right now," Kanat-Alexander said. "We want to find a platform that will allow us to continue hosting our community without putting ourselves in a difficult financial situation."

The incident has sparked concerns about the power dynamics between tech companies and non-profit organizations, as well as the need for greater transparency and fairness in online communication.

"This is just another example of how big tech can be unpredictable," said Sarah Milstein, executive director of the National Center for Civil Liberties. "It's up to us to make sure that these types of situations don't become common practice."