Firms manipulate Reddit content for AI citation gains

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

A global industry has emerged to manipulate artificial intelligence citations by manufacturing Reddit content using aged accounts, paid upvotes, and ghostwritten threads.

This practice, known as “answer engine optimization” (AEO), aims to exploit the heavy reliance of current AI models like ChatGPT on Reddit as a source for information, according to reports.

Investigative outlet 404 Media reported that firms, including RedRover, are actively spamming various subreddits, such as r/Biohackers, to ensure their manufactured posts are scraped by AI chatbots rather than primarily engaging human users.

Reddit moderators have begun implementing countermeasures to combat this manipulation. On r/Biohackers, for example, new posts concerning peptides and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are now restricted to weekly megathreads, 404 Media reported.

The current trend draws parallels to the “link farm” era of search engine optimization (SEO), which Google eventually rendered obsolete, according to digital marketing expert Jes Scholz.

Scholz suggested that AI platforms will inevitably develop filters to identify and disregard manufactured Reddit citations, making them useless or potentially harmful to those employing such tactics.

Genuine participation and the consistent provision of useful content on Reddit are the only sustainable strategies for achieving long-term visibility and credibility on the platform.

Source: Search Engine Journal