GitHub’s Star Data Lockdown: The Open Source Economy Just Got a Central Bank
GitHub’s quiet API restriction on star data isn’t just a technical change—it’s a power move that turns open source social currency into a controlled asset. Stars are the shadow economy of developer trust, and by limiting access, GitHub becomes the central bank of that economy. Developers, founders, and investors who rely on this metric for credibility and decision-making are now at the mercy of a walled garden, marking a dangerous shift from open collaboration to platform control.