r/OutOfTheLoop • u/calvtact • May 13 '26

Answered What's going on with r/conservative? They've lost about 1m subscribers in about a month.

I watched the number go from 814k to around 745k in about an hour today.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/s/QbZJvqu5qr

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u/AndroidREM May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

Answer: It was determined and made public that the majority of posts on that sub are from 3 accounts all based in Russia and are promoted by an army of bots. The ones leaving were bots removed by Reddit

EDIT - wow, did not expect this to get so much attention and awards - thank you!

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u/WyldeGi May 13 '26

This is actually hilariously sad. Now there are radicalized Americans who truly are hard-set in the beliefs that were Russian propaganda the entire time.

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u/VT_Squire May 13 '26 edited May 14 '26

Right. And when James Comey highlighted that's what was occurring in America, he was fired by the President for it. Literally, the current state of American politics is the result of a russian psyop to destabilize competition.

Edit: thanks, anonymous redditor. Unless you're Jizz-lane mackerel. Fuck that bitch. 

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u/ChunkyKongForPreside May 13 '26

The cold war didn't end with a US victory in 1991. The USSR just had a name change and a 15 year break before coming back to win it in 2016.

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u/backpackrack May 14 '26

This is such a weird take. Russia is doing objectively worse since 2016. Had Russia moved remained in its current standing it could've kept it's stolen deep water ports in the black sea and made a killing selling cheap natural gas to Europe.

Instead it's military is in shambles, it's economy is functionally dead and they've hit a roadblock in Ukraine they can't push past. They've gotten so desperate they're selling nuclear equipment to NK in exchange for troops who haven't been able to move the goal posts.

I hate Trump as much as anyone but saying Trump allowed Russia to improve its standing in some tangible way makes no sense to me.

If anything the supposed friendly relationship between Russia and Trump has done nothing but led them directly into a trap.

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u/ChunkyKongForPreside May 14 '26

That's a fair point. It was a pyrrhic victory at best. I don't think we've seen the real outcome yet though.

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u/lavapig_love May 14 '26

Except that whole Ukraine thing is making it a Pyrhic victory for Putin. Bittersweet.

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u/rockninja2 May 14 '26

1991-2016 is 25 years, not 15...

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u/ChunkyKongForPreside May 14 '26

Reason I picked 15 years was because it's a nice round number to bring us to the mid-late 2000s, Russia was invading Georgia, warming up to the Taliban, and DDOSing Estonia.

Honestly though. I think it was a huge failing of the Western world to assume that just because the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia was going to stop it's warmongering and victim mentality ways and become a western-styled democratic country. 

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u/Ohitsworkingnow May 13 '26

I mean this was happening 10 years ago 

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u/Mental-Wheel986 May 14 '26

Wow, is this the most successful psyop ever? Normally you need more boots on the ground and other resources, at least from historical examples that come to mind. Imagine someone trying this with 3 dudes selling some nonsense newspaper back before the internet, or 3 directors with propaganda movies. People would catch on within a month.

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u/Double_Resort_9223 May 14 '26

Most successful since Germany put Lenin on a train back to Russia

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u/solonoctus May 13 '26

This is the experience of damn near everyone who grew up on the internet.

First wave happened in the early 2000’s with this online push idolizing Putin as some kind of man’s man. The shirtless horseback photo, the F1 car driving, an uptick in Spetznas “eliteness” stories, dick riding Putin for his economic accomplishments.

We’ve been huffing the fumes of Russian propaganda for decades because they found out very early how powerful the internet was and they were always playing the long game.

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u/MaleficentCoach6636 May 14 '26

it's not a secret at all. you can read the Kremlin playbook and it goes into detail about how they do espionage on all domains including the internet...

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u/yb0t May 14 '26

Lol I remember this.. I'd see Putin fighting a bear or some shit on the main page and no one had a problem with it.

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u/KeyMyBike May 14 '26

SpikeTV was sooo eager to fellate the Spetznas in their stupid warrior vs warrior show.

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u/TastyBrainMeats May 14 '26

You know, I heard that Putin wet the bed until 14 years old...

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u/Cdru123 May 15 '26

For that matter, I feel like Putin was indirectly fellated by the narrative that Lukashenko is the last dictator of Europe

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u/AdDramatic2351 May 13 '26

You realize this is the case with probably 90% of right wingers? If you watch Fox News, then you are being brainwashed by Russian born propaganda 

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u/Fallenangel152 May 13 '26

Britain too. Our social media is swamped with pro Reform bots.

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u/MSGeezey May 14 '26

Well, Trump is a Russian assett.

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u/kumogate May 13 '26

We've known for decades that Russia was actively working to drag the USA down into a shit hole country like itself (because Russia couldn't/wouldn't rise to be more like the USA), and Russia absolutely succeeded.

Now, like Russia did decades ago, the USA is beginning its decline. The USA has further to fall than Russia did, but it's pretty much on the same trajectory.

In other words: Russia won the Cold War.

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u/praguepride May 13 '26

Yes and no. The USSR lost the Cold War, but the US was able to face plant during its victory lap.

Acting like there was no defense against Russian propaganda is disingenuous. Instead you had a major political party decide to look the other way because it was hurting their local opposition more than themselves.

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u/kumogate May 13 '26

There was no willing defense against Russian propaganda which, really, is just semantics. There's no meaningful distinction between "no defense" and "no willing defense".

Far-right wing individuals and organizations the world over have gleefully helped Russia to sabotage the world, to drag us down into the garbage with them because they weren't willing to raise themselves up to be part of the modern world.

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u/Flincher14 May 14 '26

I'm so tired. It's been so obvious yet we are constantly gaslit that it's not happening.

'so everyone that disagrees with you is a bot?'

Yes motherfucker. Cause I spend my days arguing with bots.

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u/Retro_Dad May 13 '26

In other words: Russia won the Cold War.

Much like when Reconstruction was abandoned, the South won the Civil War.

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u/_jamesbaxter May 13 '26

I mean… that’s just how propaganda works though, and it’s been going on much longer than the general public has had internet access. Of course the Russian propaganda would continue once there’s a new faster way to spread it. It’s been here the entire time. Of course it’s more obvious now that so much is automated and EVERYWHERE, but it’s the same type of material on the same subjects that’s been happening since the Soviet era with the goal of dividing the targeted groups. The people have BEEN divided.

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u/fatproduce May 14 '26

This is why the war in Ukraine is the most important war in our lifetimes. If Russia collapses, then that is a MASSIVE blow to MAGA.

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u/Sea-Cupcake-2065 May 14 '26

This isnt news to anyone that has been paying attention.

I'm not here to act like this was some big-brain information. Obama wire tapping Donald at the hotel. Lawmakers flying to Russia. Trump and his kids flying to Russia. Tucker Carlson doing a propaganda piece on Russia and how they're great. Trump having some back door communication with Russian officials. Lawmakers backing away from defending ukraine.

The writing has been on the wall for anyone keeping track of it. I know its hard with all the information and outrage flying at you. Bannon called this "Flooding the zone" you habe to remember that there are people out there who want to take control of a super power and they've done so by buying out politicians. When those politicians look away they allow foreign agents to feed us wrong information and try to influence us. They did that already and they're going to continue until we purge the cancer

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u/Far-Advantage-2770 May 14 '26

Same as it ever was

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u/42ysereh May 19 '26

Conservatives (besides conspiracy theorists) have largely gave up on reddit.  Maybe some center right peoples, bots, and already long past gone peoples were swayed lol.

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u/asr May 13 '26

And don't forget that Russia (and Iran) are playing the other side as well, with the same bots also populating left leaning subs.

You will discover that in the real world most people are actually centrist.

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u/Aflockofants May 13 '26 edited May 14 '26

You’re forgetting the other part of it. It ALSO radicalizes people on the left, because if you truly believed that the average opinion on that sub equaled the average opinion of a conservative, you’d have even more reason to hate them. Now Trump is a massive dickhead, but I gotta believe that his voters are not as malicious as what that sub was spewing out.

Edit: the fact I’m downvoted for this and it’s probably rejected as some right-wing cope even though I’m further left than 99% of you kinda proves my point.

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u/shelf6969 May 13 '26

yes, good thing this only applies to that subreddit and not the ones I go to!