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Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data suggests

312 points · 408 comments · p-s-v

nomilk · 1790655652 · focus · HN ↗
The biggest problem I have with reddit is mods can slowly but systematically ban users who express unfavourable opinions, and over time, anyone casually browsing could mistakenly believe those views are unpopular, whereas in reality everyone with that view (everyone who spoke it, anyway) was banned.
To give a simple example, one video game franchise subreddit bans any negative discussion on the most recent title. Over 5-10 years, this shielded them from negative feedback. But the franchise has tanked because core users weren't listened to, and they ended up making something nobody wanted.
1. Karrot_Kream · 1790662995 · focus · HN ↗
  While I do think quality of subs can be quite high (much higher than discourse here for certain topics and certain subs), this is a pretty well known problem. Discussion on this [1] from a post I made earlier.
  r/sanfrancisco is quite negative on the current mayor Daniel Lurie and frequently expresses approval for Zohran Mamdani even though Lurie has an approval rate of 74% in SF [2] while Mamdani has a 69% favorability [3] in NYC largely because of the political skew of the sub.
  [1]: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49556546">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49556546
  [2]: <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/sf-mayor-lurie-poll-approval-22224967.php" rel="nofollow">https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/sf-mayor-lurie-...
  [3]: <a href="https://sri.siena.edu/2026/09/23/siena-poll-of-likely-new-york-state-voters-hochul-50-blakeman-41/" rel="nofollow">https://sri.siena.edu/2026/09/23/siena-poll-of-likely-new-yo...

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