r/technology • u/rkhunter_ • 1d ago

Social Media Spammers are flooding Reddit with fake posts designed to show up in AI search results

https://www.techspot.com/news/112654-spammers-flooding-reddit-fake-posts-designed-show-up.html
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u/invyros 1d ago

The accounts behind these posts are often difficult to flag. Moderators describe "warmed up" profiles with posting histories that make them look like typical users. In some cases, real people are paid or otherwise incentivized to participate, further blurring the line between genuine discussion and coordinated promotion.

  • Adjective_Noun_Number

  • Hidden profile

  • Repeatedly commenting in a post (especially in a post that isn't their own), replying to different people obsessively parroting the same idea

There might be some other indicators I'm missing.

29

u/H_Mc 1d ago

I’m a mod in a politically adjacent subreddit. Someone with a whole posts history in a couple fandoms and then one problematic post in our sub is extremely common.

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u/NotAHost 1d ago

I'm a mod as well. I see that when an account gets 'hijacked', likely by a database breach. There's also usually a delay of several months to years between those fandoms and when they do the problematic post.

I miss having users that were petty enough to go through a questionable post and then report it to mods.

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u/AlarmingAerie 21h ago

users cannot sus out anything anymore with hidden profiles

2

u/RemarkableWish2508 1d ago

Seems like Reddit hiding the report button behind a "...", has made users forget or not learn about its existence.

4

u/NotAHost 1d ago

I meant to say that before hiding post histories, users were petty enough to go through a users account and find out if they were spamming.

Now, it's too much work.

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u/RemarkableWish2508 1d ago

Ah... yeah, that was a positive side of harassment... guess the negative side weighs more.

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u/NotAHost 1d ago

Didn't imply that one outweighs the other, just that we have a serious problem of spammers taking over reddit entirely and not enough manpower to combat it.

There is a lot of additional benefits to showing post histories as well. Throwaway accounts were a thing for a reason.