Thread

Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data suggests

312 points · 408 comments · p-s-v

neilv · 1790603264 · focus · HN ↗
> REDCmts sells one Reddit comment for $9.99 and 100 for $699.99, from what it calls "real, aged accounts", and shows a gallery of brand mentions it says it delivered. Soar says its accounts are "aged and manually warmed" for weeks before a single brand mention. Bazzly advertises automated replies to every post that looks like someone shopping.
Why doesn't Reddit make sure that shilling is disallowed by their ToS, and then sue these companies and all their customers?
1. mingus88 · 1790604325 · focus · HN ↗
  Because the only metric that matters for social media is engagement, and a war against active account, no matter the purpose, would make that line go down.
  Also, shill accounts prove to advertisers that the platform works to make money. That’s the whole reason Reddit exists.
  1. swed420 · 1790605799 · focus · HN ↗
    > Because the only metric that matters for social media is engagement
    True, but what if a third party existed to measure and compare other metrics that users would actually care about across popular platforms?

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