>"Obviously the site itself leans left."

There's a difference between a large amount of users who lean left making posts and comments that align with their views and what looks to be an obviously coordinated effort from a few dozen powermods and powerusers who seem to work 365 days a year to shape the content and discourse of the site through what appears on the frontpage and in the default subreddits.

It's pretty clear from things like Bernie, the rise of antiwork, etc, etc, the site doesn't exactly align with the mainstream DNC talking points nearly as nicely as the front page and popular subs would make you think.

If the NFL craps astroturfing all over the online sports community that still constitutes manipulation even if the occupants of the sites in question were marginally more predisposed to those ideas than the general population. What the mainstream left does to Reddit with their astroturfing is no different.

s/The world/The educated, english speaking westerners who post on reddit, generally found in Western Europe and North America/

I'm not sure Asia, Africa, and the Middle East are hugely fond of progressive politics.

> The world itself leans left

No, by definition, it does not lean in any direction on the political compass.

> at least compared with the US Left/Right divide

More precisely, the overton window of the US goes from center to the far right.