Reddit is actively implementing artificial intelligence to combat hidden marketing content. Brands are trying to artificially get in the eye of popular AI-based chatbots, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, using forum posts as a free promotional tool.
Reddit is actively implementing artificial intelligence to combat hidden marketing content. Brands are trying to artificially get in the eye of popular AI-based chatbots, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, using forum posts as a free promotional tool.
As Bloomberg reports, citing a Reddit statement and analyst research, the platform’s agreements with tech giants to use forum content to train AI have made Reddit a prime target for a new type of optimization — generative search engine optimization (GEO).
OpenAI and Alphabet Inc. signed deals with Reddit because they see it as a reliable source of «live» human communication, where users share their thoughts, so chatbots regularly link to discussions from subreddits in their responses. But for marketers, this was a signal to action: they began to massively create artificial discussions and reviews so that AI algorithms would read them as real experiences and recommend appropriate brands.
To stop this practice, Reddit has deployed its own large-scale language models. According to the company, its updated automated systems detected about 25,000 spam posts and comments per day in the first quarter. This helped reduce the visibility of unwanted content to regular users by 20% compared to the same period last year. The company attributes the increase in spam detection to improvements in the effectiveness of its tools, not to an increase in spam on the platform as a whole.
«We analyze signals immediately after account creation to stop suspicious users before they have a chance to post,» Reddit said in a blog post. Using language models, the network has learned to spot coordinated patterns of fake behavior and artificial hype that older protections previously missed.
A new trend in marketing is called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). Venture capitalists are already actively investing in this sector. For example, the valuation of AI marketing company Profound after a February funding round exceeded $1 billion. Despite the fact that GEO tactics are only developing, a recent study by scientists from Cornell Tech confirmed that user-generated content can indeed manipulate the results of artificial intelligence-based search engines.
Reddit’s efforts to block hidden marketing are already hitting specialized agencies. Shanzila Ahmed, co-founder of startup ReachLLM, said her team helps brands increase mentions on ChatGPT, including through Reddit posts. She managed to get chatbots to quote new posts the next day, but Reddit quickly removed some of them.
«It’s just something we have to deal with. We just have to keep posting quality new content regularly so that even if it gets deleted, there’s new content that can be quoted,» Ahmed says. She adds that by becoming community moderators by creating new topic channels, some of her clients in niche industries have been able to get quoted by AI. But the risk of account bans is growing exponentially.
Last year, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian expressed his frustration with the current state of the internet, saying it was becoming less human and more filled with AI bots. Ohanian believes the internet should be the opposite of dead, with «live viewers and live content.»
Validating a product idea with data from Reddit, forums, keywords, and competitor research helps creators understand real user needs before launching. The same research-driven approach is useful when evaluating a Fast Streaming App, as user feedback and market trends can reveal which features matter most. Combining audience insights with competitive analysis leads to better products and a stronger user experience.