Reddit, AI spam bots explore new ways to show ads in your feed

#For sale: Ads that look like legit Reddit user posts

“We highly recommend only mentioning the brand name of your product since mentioning links in posts makes the post more likely to be reported as spam and hidden. We find that humans don’t usually type out full URLs in natural conversation and plus, most Internet users are happy to do a quick Google Search,” ReplyGuy’s website reads.

  • @AdamBomb
    link
    English
    12024 days ago

    Jfc people came to Reddit because up until now they were getting replies from real people with that have no financial interest in the outcome. This completely subverts everything people valued about Reddit. This fucking guy.

      • @TheFriar@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        10
        edit-2
        24 days ago

        Nothing. Social media (and social-ish media like Reddit) have a strong, strong hold on people. Facebook is still an incredibly popular site. People don’t abandon social media sites until they literally have to, like in the instance of MySpace, vine. A company definitely contributes to that by tanking their own UI and making people leave, which in turn causes a downward spiral of the company grabbing on harder to the dwindling user base, trying to monetize them harder and harder, until they company itself bottoms out and shuts down the servers.

        Those of us that left Reddit willingly when we were tired of being used by them are in the very small minority. They lost, what, like 1-2% of their user base when nearly every single comment in any thread about the API debacle that said, “this is the last straw, I’m leaving and deleting my comment history” was getting massive amounts of support? People on the internet talk a big game, but ultimately are hopelessly addicted to their routines.

        This is all by design, of course. We’re conditioned to open their apps and sites by reflex when we turn on the phone or computer. It fuckin works. But dammit if it doesn’t feel good breaking that spell. But it’s super disappointing others are willing to take every slap to the face and simply say “thank you sir may I have another.” Those people contribute to enshittification as much as the companies, honestly.

          • @Audacious@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            523 days ago

            Nice pic to visualize every modern boycott. Aggravating to see people lie about their morals, and then keep eating the shit they are being fed.

        • @nytrixus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          223 days ago

          Lot of truth to this.

          Facebook users know very well that Mark has spent the last 10 years, bastardizing Facebook in every way he can. It’s not a good place for security. He doesn’t give a shit about your privacy. He no longers rely on actual people to help step in and resolve on-site problems, rather rely on a stupid hub system and he’s high on his stupid metaverse shit.

          Yet, billions are still there.

          Reddit, same way. The worst part about Reddit and even Twitter users is the mental gymnastics they’re willing to go through, to justify and rationalize why they’re staying.

        • @someacnt_@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          123 days ago

          It’s so interesting, how so many people did not leave? Well I guess many prolific posters have left but

    • @slaacaa@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      9
      edit-2
      23 days ago

      Yes, but by completely destroying that they can make the line go up for 2 quarters, so worth it. Also, corpos would actually prefer users not having access to these discussion spaces and the free information they provide, so you would have to rely on overSEOd shit content and ads. I hate what the internet has become

      • @AdamBomb
        link
        English
        123 days ago

        All true, and I hate it too

      • AutistoMephisto
        link
        fedilink
        English
        111 days ago

        They think that the entire reason the Internet exists is to sell things. To make you want to buy things. And if you tell them it’s not, they laugh.