Plot twist: this is just corporate shilling, too, trying to convince us it’s only 15%…
I know you are kidding but “15% are corporate shills” is verrrry generous to reddit in my experience. Reddit is a dead husk.
I’d be genuinely shocked if it was less than 50%.
deleted by creator
I wouldn’t be shocked if it was only 15% that isn’t corporate swill. Even the reasonable sounding comments can just be a bot karma farming by reposting previously popular stuff. At it’s peak, Reddit was a chaotic bazaar of experts and wannabees building actual good communities. You could find the kind of researched, in-depth info no Google search would ever unearth again. Now Reddit is clearly riding in the same boat as MySpace and others, just in it’s own stupid extra-Spezy way.
wonder how much of the bots are OF spammers, or link farmers. i know they use a ton of accounts to spam, after they mostly warmed up those accounts, i was on another forum how they were doing it to earn money. the propaganda bot farms dont care about evading reddits filter, so they spam, dump the account and create a new one, rinse and repeat.
the other 35% is russian troll farm bots.
I hate reddit like any warm blooded fediverse fan but I cannot deny that if you wanna talk about, say, some obscure punk band’s third record released in 2003 thats where you gotta go
In some pockets yes, but travelling through reddit to find those pockets is like wandering through a sandcastle falling into the sea to find the handful of luxurious dry pristine rooms left.
The nicer the rooms are the sadder it makes you to know it is all for naught and is being washed away in front of your very eyes.
I used to go to reddit often for niche information, these days it barely feels worth the trouble even when there is no alternative source for the information anymore/yet.
Some of those good fan subs got captured by industry insiders in the meantime too and are as bad as the flyers and search results. Companies excel at making the online as shit as the IRL.
I had to make one to prepare for upcoming trip. Fediverse doesn’t have enough volume for such things.
Those pages never hit the front page anymore and get less activity over time, app wants you to not look at the communities you are subed to.c shows you anything else, custom feeds works but its a hassle, there isn’t really an alternative
Same exact jokes made by ~30 day old accounts, that have been copy and pasted from older reposts.
Eh, people over at Reddit have some serious hair triggers on accusing someone of being a shill. I’ve been accused dozens of times.
True, but to me that indicates the people enshittifying Reddit to pump and dump it for short term profit did a good job of sowing enough confusion and distrust that it obscured all the bots pouring in. They leaned into a culture of fakeness and inhumanness in developing Reddit as a for-profit entity.
its a death knell ever since SPEZ made reddit public.
i wouldnt be surprised if it was bots doing it, they often “argue” with other bots to drum up drama.
You are the reason I have a sludge hammer collection though.
Idk, reddit has always had a fairly strong libertarian undercurrent. Wouldn’t surprise me in the corporate glazing is genuine.
Way to make me nauseous with that thought lol, I doubt actual reddit users are as brain dead as all the bots and corporate shilling makes them look however…
it seems some of the subs, is finally NOTICING reddits been deleting, banning people in such large numbers they are complaining about. it seems reddits new tactic is unilaterally deleting a comment with out mod consent.
deleted by creator
15% of these subreddits contained content likely posted by bots or corporate trolls
That’s very different from 15% of all reddit content being that.
deleted by creator
2020
This is before LLMs (2022 is the Internet LLMpocalypse) so I imagine this number has increased significantly.
Search Engines have been nearly completely obliterated by AI SEO, I find it hard to believe that social media manipulation hasn’t exploded just as much. It’s just more subtle.
Nice one!
Just noting that the links inside the article seem to be wrong: https://lemmy.world/post/38174729/20270142
As the study that the author refers to does not seem to exist and he links to a study that does not justify any of the statistical claims of the article, the number is likely fake.
A haha and a fuck you to the Reddit idiots who said we’d be back a week after leaving the platform due to the API shitstorm.
Can’t be back after I deleted my account can I. 😎 No, no, I will never be back on Reddit. I mean I want to. There’s a lot of content there that I’m missing out on that genuinely interests me. But I will not. I feel confident here. I feel welcome, at home.
There’s also the added benefit of being off my phone more since there isn’t as much content here.
That last sentence. It was truly an addiction that would lose me 3-4 hours a day. I get so much more shit done now.
The infinite scroll is very, very dangerous.
Personally I’ve noticed I’m taking more naps now which… It’s not really making me feel more productive but whatever
Who cares about productivity. You’ve reclaimed your time, and napping is probably better for you than whatever you were getting from Reddit.
From the little I’ve seen (or more had to be exposed to) they are 100% convinced that Lemmy is like 10 people and nothing else exists. They’re so walled in, much of those walls being built by themselves.
On a vaguely related note, reddit has been so deeply shit now for long enough where it has stopped being a good source of info. It used to be such a good place to find just about any info via a search but now the results are just so fucking weird. Trying to find stuff about new-ish games, tech support, recommendations for anything etc. has become so much harder now.
Or possibly the article is AI slop (at least, can someone find the pew survey they lead with and claim to base the headline from? see here)
The 2020 study published in Computers in Human Behavior analyzed the top 100 subreddits — the most influential communities on the entire platform. Their finding? 15% of these subreddits contained content likely posted by bots or corporate trolls specifically designed to promote companies or organizations.
“15% of all subreddits contained corporate bot content” is very different than “15% of all content”
This also doesn’t really give a whole picture. How much of this content actually trends? There’s always some corporate sludge at 0 points if you sort by New, which is how the site is supposed to work. And even some stuff that gets brute forced through is “Hey fellow kids” level obvious and gets trolled or removed by mods.
And while Reddit right now is a soulless husk, all of these things need to be studied on Lemmy as well. Right now there’s probably not much because we’re just not a big target, but as it grows it’s certain that corporate shills and propaganda farms will start to target us. Like I’m not opposed to the general idea of the research, but it really needs to be more specific and in-depth to be helpful
And even some stuff that gets brute forced through is “Hey fellow kids” level obvious and gets trolled or removed by mods.
Or you’re experiencing the toupee phenomenon. you only notice the obvious ones.
Note their methodology for this study, afaict, also would entirely miss subtle stuff.
Either the point about frequency is valid, or this is a weak headline, no?
I’m not saying there aren’t subtle ones that get through, I’m just saying that there’s nothing in the report distinguishing between the obvious shill and a well disguised advert. Granted, if an advert is disguised well enough, it’s hard to track in a study like this, but there are plenty that aren’t obvious until you start poking around posting history or metadata
Not 15% of all subreddits, 15% of the top 100 that they studied.
But they don’t link the study, or give any way to find it. I’m very suspicious now.
Apparently the first link to a ‘pew study’ is wrong (it goes to pew, but doesn’t mention reddit much). See here
I still remember the time of the great Miele shilling by the vacuum repair guy. Every thread about vacuums had the same conversation about how only this single company is the best company of all. It worked, my brother bought one of those vacuums.
In the age of LLMs, it’s pretty well guaranteed that it’s going to be far worse than described in a study from five years ago. Anecdotally, it feels to me like closer to half if not more of the responses I get are engagement bait. It’s not just corpo, a lot of it is government trolls trying to shape opinion, domestic government and foreign governments. I don’t post anymore at all - just read - and that only in my very niche communities that aren’t likely to be targeted for this kind of bullshit.
Very important to point out with this that Reddit has gotten markedly more fascist in these past three years – which is saying something – even while there is inexplicably a large number of people who call it “left-leaning” on the platform itself. It is safe to say that a high amount of “user”-content is bots of some kind, and that platforms that have high numbers of bots tend to become more conservative and fascist.
It’s both left leaning and fascist, because the left want fascism as long as it’s controlled by them.
You sound so desperate for me to not block you dude.
Huh?
I don’t care if you block me.
Communism isn’t right wing. You’re saying it is.
only in my very niche communities that aren’t likely to be targeted for this kind of bullshit.
I think that’s a point that deserves more attention. Considering the “long tail” of niche communities and that the propaganda surely isn’t evenly distributed, it’s very possible that the big default and political subs are mostly propaganda and other shilling at this point.
Another good thing to point out. If you have the time to interact with those communities, it’s demonstrably populated primarily by bot-like content. Even more, moderation tends to be more opaque and aggressive against leftist comments or posts.
New Study
Study is from 2020 on data from 2018 lol
That explains why the number is so low.
I was gonna say, I’ve been on Reddit for quite a bit, and it feels like SO MUCH SHIT is astroturfed
If we were to update the stats, it’s gotta be like 50%
And it doesn’t even contain the words ‘15’, ‘fifteen’ or ‘reddit’. The author is probably citing ChatGpt.
Only 15%?
95% is technically ‘at least’ 15%
The rest are Russian bots
There’s a metric fuck ton of them here on lemmy too.
How do we know if they’re bots or just stupid people?
I operate on matrix rules. Whether or not they’re bots if they’re repeating bot points they’re bots.
Literal study: “most of rhe propaganda on social media comes from private companies”
Lemmitors “ThE pRoBlEm Is RuZzIa”
Keep blaming a third country for all your endogenous problems.
The study is from 2018. I’m sure Reddit has had plenty of time to get those stats up. 15% is rookie numbers.
Not even that. While the article claims that, the linked study isn’t even about reddit.
I figured the % would be significantly higher, like 40% at this rate.
That’s just the corperate trolls. You also have the right wing bots, russian bots, and who knows what else.
Emphasis on “at least”.
Fair point… it’s a very conservative floor number though lol. Doing some heavy lifting on the wording.
It’s of all content, so including porn. “What product should I buy for under £xx” posts are going to be far higher.
“At least” is doing some heavy lifting
These are just ppl paid to do it as a 9-5
To be fair the linked study does not make that claim nor is it even about reddit.
BULLSHIT. It’s closer to 50% and the admins have been purchased by GOP billionaires. Fuck that platform and those limp dick admins. I hope that when the revolution kicks off they don’t forget about those SF basement pussies.
Well, 50% is “at least 15%”.
deleted by creator
When you’re thinking 50%, you’re thinking about the content you actually see. But you likely don’t see more than 5% of reddit’s content - the stuff that goes on in all the smaller subreddits.
15% of the whole site is an absurdly high number.
I’d say most of “askreddit” is buzzfeed staff looking for article material.
Hidden post and comment history is the worst thing Reddit has done. It allows much more of it than was noticed in the 5 year old study
just learned about that. wow. putting that final nail in your own coffin is just something else
how did reddit become so shitty? I rarely even get sent there now when I’m looking up the answer to something - the site is slow af on top of just not having much useful content anymore
They went public.
$$$$$$
And the rest are Government trolls and regular trolls.
On a thread about healthcare today, I watched my comment against the insurance industry get 100% upvoted two dozen times in a couple minutes and then suddenly freeze and only accept downvotes while I was immediately engaged by somebody calling me a soft brain. I then called that out and predicted an incoming [Removed by Moderator] which of course happened like five minutes later.
We’re really mean to believe that the site magically changed to a conservative corporate glazing community in such a short time? Yeah, bullshit.
I’ve simulated reddit here
removed by mod
removed by mod
Comment deleted by user
Comment used by deleter ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
User deleted by commenter
removed by u/spez
removed by big pharma
removed by the trump administration
removed by mod
removed by joe
mama
removed by god
/r/hailcorporate was underestimating it if anything.
The silencing of r/hailcorporate was the first nail in reddit’s coffin and it was lauded by most of the userbase.
Always find it funny when anti corpo stuff somehow always becomes “cringe”
And I know hasan piker isn’t popular outside of his crowd, which is why he is a good smear target, but it’s funny seeing that bullshit take over the internet based on vague rumours and drama hunting with nothing concrete on a guy who lives on camera. The fact that rumours of a shock collar became the most important thing in the world, while “stop the shock” is still in motion to prevent a school from using pavlovian shock therapy on autistic people. Not whataboutism, but critique on the mad prioritization and weighting of issues in the general public salience.
Also the usa government keeps blowing up random boats and is escalating war behaviour. Amongst everything else. But let’s all talk about hasan piker’s dog instead.
If only someone in power had any accountability. Rather, people in power need to be held accountable. Corpos and top political figures.
At the very least I should be able to point out when ‘content’ is literally a deceptive advertisement, which people also weirdly defend to the death. Along with dark/deceptive patterns, active price fixing, constraining corporate ecosystems, and skirting around every rule with no fear of reprisal.
All things people seem weirdly defensive about, because 'just deal with it, it’s not that bad. "
This is fairly harmless compared to the government trolls. Pretty much every Canada related subreddit has been dealing with a slurry of xenophobic posts from brand new accounts with hidden post history. The better subreddits quickly ban or lock them but several let them go as they reinforce the moderator’s own worldview. Not even the Costco Canada subreddit is safe.
We’re starting to see them here.
It’s hard to tell if it’s the division/outrage bots or if it’s just people who’ve been living on social media that’s made up of mostly division/outrage bots and they’ve picked up the bad behaviors.
You can point them out if you try to argue with them. They’ll have an almost encyclopedic memory of every negative story and outrageous anecdote as if they’re veteran reporters… but they employ rhetorical maneuvers and fallacies that would get them laughed out of a high school debate class. Bad faith arguments, textbook logical fallacies, etc.
with hidden post history
Yup. Fuck Reddit.
This more insane than the great taste of RAT COLA. THE ONLY BRAND THAT MAKES YOU SCURRY LIKE A RAT.
No friend, I enjoyed RAT COLA but now BRAWNDO is more my brand. It has what plants crave, after all
Electrolytes
Electrolytes
I fucking wish lol
