Reddit, the 22nd most popular website on the planet (and 7th most popular in the US), is being manipulated by large corporations. And this isn’t just a theory — we have proof. Or rather, Forbes has proof.
We’re all familiar with comment manipulation, right? Fake Amazon reviews (which we wrote about) are perhaps the best-known example. Well, the same sketchy behavior is happening on Reddit as well.
The business of internet “shilling” is quite simple — companies pay money for people posing as genuine users to promote their work or shift public opinion.
As one anonymous agency specializing in this stuff said, “[We] work with a number of accounts on Reddit that we can use to change the conversation. And make it a bit more positive.”
It’s almost like there’s this whole underground world we don’t know about. But thanks to Forbes, we recently got a look behind the curtain.
Jay McGregor, a contributor to the site, began researching the business of internet shilling in December when — for journalistic purposes — he paid $200 to get fake news stories to the top of “influential subreddits” via fake accounts and fake upvotes.
What he hadn’t realized, though, was how widespread — and booming — the internet shilling business had become.
In fact, there are now professional marketing agencies in multiple countries that openly offer these services under the title of “reputation management.”
Here’s what he discovered and heard directly from them (all quotes from an anonymous agency):
Huh, ya think you know a site…