Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data suggests

Re:Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data s... by neuronic on Tuesday September 29, 2026 @08:03AM (#49891744)

This is absolutely true and a main reason why you will see a lot of Pikachu faces in r/de after a German election. This is true for most subreddits which are touching on topics that in some form or another promote tribalism.

Such topics tend to naturally create opinionated flame wars, politics just being the most obvious example, but the subreddit mods often take a side even though the subreddit may advertise itself as the general hub for the topic.

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Re:Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data s... by bel8 on Tuesday September 29, 2026 @08:46AM (#49892278)

My friend told me the same phenomenon happens in Brazil's canonical subreddit /r/brasil

I'm told that their mods tolerate left leaning hate speech much more than right leaning counterpart so unaware visitors think current left leaning government is beloved by a great majority and that it has been for years.

But they told me that last election ended very tight, something like 49/51% and I'm told current imminent election is at similar 50/50 split.

Same probably happened with German election.

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