Reddit is totally justified in this. The users are actively and maliciously trying to hurt Reddit. However, this is in response to many many completely unjustifiable actions from Reddit. Mostly the lies.
If they had just come out and said "we're killing the API in 6-12 months", as others before them have done, they would have seen much less pushback, but they had to lie over and over again about "not killing 3rd party apps" and "working with developers".
No one needs to pay them. Not being treated like garbage is sufficient.