Earlier this year, a user in a skincare-focused subreddit recommended a specific hypochlorous acid spray. The comment appeared helpful and thoughtful, but a closer look revealed the same user had posted nearly identical praise for the same brand across multiple threads. Community members soon flagged it as possible marketing spam, and moderators stepped in.

This incident is part of a broader trend reshaping the internet. Reddit has become one of the most valuable websites on the internet because AI chatbots frequently cite its content. Data compiled by the SEO company Semrush showed Reddit was the most-cited domain in May by AI tools including ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's Gemini and AI Mode, ahead of news publishers and even Wikipedia.

Why Reddit matters for search

For years, people added "reddit" to Google searches to find authentic answers. Google responded by surfacing Reddit threads prominently in results. Now AI assistants have made Reddit even more important, since they often pull from its discussions when answering product questions. For marketers, a mention on Reddit can be as valuable as a backlink once was.

Some SEO experts say brands no longer need a link from Reddit to get cited by a chatbot. A single positive mention may be enough. This has led to a wave of "answer engine optimization" and "generative engine optimization" tactics, in which companies try to shape what AI systems say. In the old SEO days, everyone knew that backlinks were important; in the age of AI search, marketers are throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

According to Semrush, Google is also inserting AI Overviews much more frequently into search queries with commercial intent, like when shoppers are researching products or comparing brands. When web traffic is funneled through large language models instead of a traditional search results page, being cited by a chatbot becomes critically important.

The Honeydew Labs case

In the skincare subreddit r/SkincareAddiction, a commenter named Primary-Taro4254 praised Honeydew Labs' hypochlorous acid spray. They said it helped with redness and irritation and noted the product's concentration and National Eczema Association acceptance. But their profile showed the same message posted in many places, including threads about unrelated products.

A community member warned others about "honeydew labs hypochlorous acid/ marketing bots." A moderator soon announced that the suspicious account had been actioned and that Honeydew Labs mentions would be filtered for review. The company did not respond to a request for comment, and the account did not reply to a direct message.

Moderators on the front line

Maya Adivi, a moderator of r/SkincareAddiction, says the subreddit has always banned accounts affiliated with brands. But now suspected marketing is more subtle. Spammers might ask open-ended questions like "How does everyone keep track of their skincare routine?" and then have multiple accounts mention the same app or product. Others use self-deprecating phrasing to appear authentic.

"It's a lot more subtle, but we've become more sophisticated as well," Adivi said.

A brand caught secretly promoting itself becomes "persona non grata," she says. Moderators sometimes warn violators, but more often they issue bans. Adivi recently learned of a marketing agency that claimed to have targeted the subreddit to promote an unknown Korean beauty brand and to rank on Google. She removed the thread and added the brand to a keyword filter. Moderators also restrict AMAs: the session must benefit the community, not serve as an ad. Adivi, who has a marketing background, says no one knows exactly how to do answer engine optimization right now, but everyone says Reddit is essential.

Google and Reddit respond

Google spokesperson Jennifer Kutz said in an email that the company has strong protections against manipulation and that its AI features do not aim to display content from any specific site or platform. She said Reddit "gets no special preference" in ranking. She added that spamming has always existed and that Google has kept search results 99% spam-free for years.

Reddit has also acknowledged the problem. In early July, the company announced it was using AI and LLMs to better detect "the highly subtle, coordinated patterns of fake behavior and artificial hype." Reddit said it catches 25,000 spammy posts and comments and blocks 23 million spam views per day as a result.

Jared Nelson, a senior director at Reddit, said the company evaluates accounts when they are created, looks for coordinated manipulation across accounts and conversations, and uses platform activity and user reports to improve detection. He declined to name specific signals, saying that would give bad actors a playbook.

The appeal of Reddit authenticity

Reddit's influence comes from its perceived authenticity. Anonymous users and volunteer moderators create a space that feels less commercial than other platforms. The site's user-generated content, mountains of which LLMs have been trained on, is trusted precisely because it seems to come from nowhere in particular.

Brands are creating their own subreddits, hiring agencies, and even using AI-generated posts. Marketing and PR firms recommend that clients pay attention to Reddit and Wikipedia because press releases don't work there.

Mike Moschella, director of analytics at DKC, says "You can't bullshit Reddit." He argues that the platform forces brands to be more honest because users will reject claims that don't match fundamentals. Reddit's own data shows that roughly 40 percent of discussions on the platform are commercial in nature.

Spam appears across many communities

The problem is not limited to skincare. A user on r/CleaningTips questioned whether the subreddit should ban product names. Another warned r/BuyItForLife that it was being "brigaded by ad bots to skew Google and AI search results." r/FoodNYC has rules against brands commenting on old posts. A r/salestechniques moderator posted a "name and shame" thread about astroturfing brands.

Dan, a moderator of the weight loss subreddit r/loseit, has created a "shit list" of brands suspected of covert advertising. He says brand mentions are automatically filtered from the subreddit. Dan believes spammers have an agenda that normal posters don't, which is often how they are caught. He has also seen posts that look AI-generated, with phrases like "I'm curious to know" in the final paragraph.

"We want it to be human to human because that's why I liked that subreddit anyway," Dan said. "I found it very good for people to speak to one another outside of somewhere that's constantly advertising to you."

Music communities and stealth marketing

Similar issues have surfaced in music communities. This spring, reports circulated that a marketing agency was behind some of the social media frenzy surrounding the indie rock band Geese. Fans felt betrayed, and the dustup became its own news cycle. Several years earlier, moderators of the popular subreddit r/indieheads had caught a major record label spamming and promoting its own artists in threads.

After the Geese incident, Matty Monroe, a moderator of r/indieheads, and other moderators took another look. They uncovered four accounts within a week that they believe secretly belonged to indie record labels. The accounts only posted about artists on their own labels. One suspicious comment mentioned preordering a record on "Coral Green vinyl."

Monroe, who also works as a marketing coordinator for a music distribution company, said the team contacted one of the labels and asked it to stop. As a compromise, r/indieheads launched a label verification process so record companies can participate while clearly identifying themselves. Dozens of labels have signed up so far.

Monroe says r/indieheads has become one of the "last games in town" for indie music marketing as traditional outlets shrink. But he hopes people understand that astroturfing can't place bodies in a stadium for a sold-out tour, and bots can't make listeners connect emotionally with music.

The risk for small brands

The crackdown on stealth marketing may have unintended consequences. Adivi, the r/SkincareAddiction moderator, says lesser-known brands are often the most "egregious" offenders. Reddit has historically helped small skincare brands become cult favorites. But because moderation has become so strict, Adivi wonders whether a new viral Reddit-approved brand could ever take off the way they used to be able to.

"The unfortunate thing is it does mean I end up being more suspicious of smaller brands, even though I would love to see more small brands out in the world," she said.

Source:The Verge News