A recent clash between Hack Club, a nonprofit that organizes high school coding clubs, and Slack has brought attention to a growing concern for organizations that rely heavily on third-party platforms.
When the tools you use control your data and access, a sudden policy change can leave you scrambling.
Hack Club had been operating with Slack at the center of its communications.
After Slack ended its free nonprofit plan, the organization accepted a $5,000-per-year deal, which seemed fair for the value it provided. But that arrangement changed without warning earlier this week.
On Tuesday, Slack informed the group that unless it paid $50,000 within the week and committed to a $200,000 annual fee, its workspace would be deactivated and its message history permanently deleted.
Mahad Kalam, a Hack Club volunteer, shared the experience in a public post.
“However, two days ago, Slack reached out to us and said that if we don’t agree to pay an extra $50k this week and $200k a year, they’ll deactivate our Slack workspace and delete all of our message history,” he wrote.
The sudden change threw the nonprofit into disarray. Staff and volunteers were forced to begin an urgent migration of data and tools while trying to maintain their ongoing programs. “The small amount of notice has also been catastrophic for the programs that we run,” Kalam said.
The incident illustrates a broader risk. When essential operations are deeply tied to a proprietary system, organizations become vulnerable to changes they cannot control.
Kalam emphasized the importance of maintaining ownership over your data. “This experience has taught us that owning your data is incredibly important, and if you’re a small business, especially, then I’d advise you move away too.”
Hack Club has started transitioning to Mattermost, an open source alternative that gives users more autonomy.
While the move has required effort and resources, it also ensures the organization is no longer at the mercy of a single vendor’s decisions.
The situation gained wider attention, eventually prompting Slack CEO Denise Dresser to reach out with a new proposal. According to Kalam, the offer was “better than the plan we were on previously,” though he did not share details.
Despite the revised terms, Hack Club is now rethinking how it manages vendor relationships and how much control it is willing to hand over to external platforms.
“This ordeal has made us think more deeply about entrusting data with external SaaSes and ensuring that we own our data is definitely going to be a very big priority going forward,” Kalam said. “I’d encourage you to think the same way.”
For any organization that relies on cloud-based services, this serves as a warning. If the tools you use don’t give you flexibility or a way out, you may find yourself locked in when the terms suddenly change.
Open source platforms may not always be easier, but they offer one thing that’s becoming increasingly valuable: control.
