this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
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107
New Study: At Least 15% of All Reddit Content is Corporate Trolls Trying to Manipulate Public Opinion (medium.com)
submitted 8 months ago by sabreW4K3@lemmy.tf to c/technology@beehaw.org
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Cross posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9762996

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[–] Butterbee@beehaw.org 72 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Well, the article (at least in the free part.. I'm not making an account just to fact check this site) mentions two studies right off the bat and claims that they shed light on the impact of corporate trolls on Reddit.

"Two significant studies, the Pew Research Center study conducted in 2018 and the Computers in Human Behavior study published in 2020, have shed light on the prevalence and impact of corporate trolls on Reddit."

If you look up these studies, the Pew Research Center has a survey they conduct and although the article claims they interviewed 2500 americans who use reddit the actual study had only 2,002 adults. It was also a study about what sites they used. It had nothing to do with Reddit. In fact, if you switch over to the Detailed Table, Reddit wasn't even mentioned as a response. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/03/01/social-media-use-2018-methodology/

I could not find a "Computers in Human Behavior study published in 2020" that matched the article's description. I did find a study published by them in 2020 about selfies and body image and especially snapchat. Once again, no reddit. But I can't say I found the article mentioned.

Then again, I can't say the articles mentioned exist at all. ChatGPT almost certainly hallucinated this.

[–] AndrasKrigare@beehaw.org 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Time to add medium.com to the trash list

[–] 520@kbin.social 38 points 8 months ago (1 children)

medium.com is a blogging site, not entirely unlike Blogger or Wordpress.

Treat it with as much of a pinch of salt as you would any other blogging site.

[–] GammaGames@beehaw.org 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I’m surprised there’s still people that don’t know what medium is tbh

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 3 points 8 months ago

Yup, just because it's easy to style to look professional doesn't mean it isn't just the same as a longer reddit comment

[–] OpenStars@kbin.social 5 points 8 months ago

A study on astroturfing on Reddit, written in the style of Reddit by an astroturfer - oh the delicious irony? :-P

[–] brie@beehaw.org 49 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The study is from 2018, and I wasn't able to locate the original source from searching. Also, from the author's bio:

Ph.D. Rocket Surgeon & Aspiring Troglodyte

The Hacker News discussion also does not inspire confidence....

[–] juliebean@lemm.ee 20 points 8 months ago

couldn't read the whole article, but the first couple paragraphs seem to contradict the headline. '~15% of reddit users have encountered corporate astroturfing' is not the same as '15% of content on reddit is corporate astroturfing'.

[–] JiminyPicket@beehaw.org 11 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Reddit gets shittier by the day. Currently, they're blocking users using a VPN, they're trying to force you to either login to read, or to stop using a VPN so they can have even more of your data. Reddit should be burned to the ground, it's a data-harvesting cesspool, run by a bunch of greedy dickheads. I wish everyone would wake up and leave at the same time, destroy their IPO.

[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm not a Reddit exponent by any means, but I've yet to run into an issue using the site on Mullvad at the router level. There's unfortunately communities there that can offer useful information not easily found by search engines.

[–] JiminyPicket@beehaw.org 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, unfortunate because all that information could easily move here if Reddit users stopped feeding the machine. The site is being blocked intermittently for numerous VPN users, using Proton, Mullvad, Nord etc. They say it's a code error but it's clearly trying to force people to use their crappy app, or login with no privacy.

[–] rodgm@beehaw.org 1 points 8 months ago

I stopped commenting on Reddit and deleted my account but if a search result had some info I needed on Reddit I would still go there to read but not comment. But ya, a while back they started blocking me because of vpn usage. So I started blocking them out of any search results. It works both ways. Thanks for letting me know my suspicions were correct JimmyPicket. But that is how I ended up here.

[–] resketreke@kbin.social 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There's a way to bypass the blockade. swap "www" with "old" in the web address and you're good to go.

[–] JiminyPicket@beehaw.org 2 points 8 months ago

I do that, but I don't like the layout. Thanks though.

[–] Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee 10 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Isn’t this website AI generated stuff

[–] i_am_not_a_robot@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 8 months ago

Some portion of it likely is. Medium is like Wordpress.com with paywalls.

[–] 520@kbin.social 4 points 8 months ago

Medium is a blog hosting site. It's all user generated and there's zero editorial control.

[–] sabreW4K3@lemmy.tf 3 points 8 months ago

Medium? Not that I know, but I don't keep up with these things.

[–] Stillhart@lemm.ee 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Did the definition of "trolls" suddenly change or is this author just using it wrong? Corporate astroturfing? Sure that makes sense. Corporate trolling? Not sure I get the point of that.

[–] sabreW4K3@lemmy.tf 4 points 8 months ago

I think the editor was absent that day.

[–] millie@beehaw.org 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

One meaning of the verb 'troll' is to misrepresent reality to provoke some sort of reaction. Usually the desired reaction is related to frustration or confusion, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.

Like, there were certainly things that were worth a bunch of points on Game of Trolls that were less connected to making people angry than to getting them to believe you.

[–] Stillhart@lemm.ee 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I've never heard of "Game of Trolls". Guess I'm OOTL

[–] millie@beehaw.org 1 points 8 months ago

It was a subreddit for trolls to share their trolling with one another and see who could score the highest. You'd get points for things like people having a meltdown, rapid-responding, posting responses of certain lengths, all sorts of stuff. The more believable or rage-inducing the troll thread, the higher the score. It got shut down fairly quickly.

[–] millie@beehaw.org 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'd imagine it's probably closer to 30% on Reddit. Hell, it's probably 15% on lemmy.

[–] Pistcow@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago

Yeah, I've been to r/movies.

[–] stown@sedd.it 2 points 8 months ago

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