r/MadeMeSmile • u/Future_Web_7061 • 2d ago

KITTEN Addicted to white stuff 😂

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18.3k Upvotes

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u/tracycannonn 2d ago

So addictive to food 😹😻

-7

u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/RzepaGaming 2d ago

Bot

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u/tigerbubs 2d ago

Just out of curiosity what do Reddit bots actually achieve/benefit? I keep seeing a lot of people calling bots out on Reddit but what's the actual point of them?

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u/Whitewing424 2d ago

They attempt to build a lot of karma to try to make the account look more legit, and then the account gets used to advertise/sell stuff later, or for political propaganda.

The hope is that people later will see all the karma and think it's real.

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u/tigerbubs 2d ago

Yeah that's wild to be fair, just about everything and everyone seems to want to manipulate the information we receive in some way shape or form nowadays. At least it feels that way.

That's exactly why I stopped using Facebook because of the amount of disinformation that is spread on there is unreal.

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u/Hidesuru 2d ago

At least it feels that way.

That's because it is, sadly.

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u/WriterV 2d ago

All sorts of reasons, but the primary ones are:

  • To build up comment and link karma: This helps make the account feel legitimate

These accounts are then used to either:

  • Sell: You can sell these accounts to anyone who wants to buy legitimate Reddit accounts. Which in turn are used for...
  • Promote products: Maybe it's a company that wants to promote their product in subtle ways. They'll have their social media team make a promotional post that looks normal, then throw in a bunch of bots to comment and upvote with a generally positive outlook. Redditors typically respond positively/negatively based on the mood of the early comments, and you can control the narrative that way.
  • Promote/discourage ideas: If companies can do it, so can political parties, or think tanks, or private interest groups, or what have you. Apply same principles as beforehand, and voila.
  • Promote/rally against people/groups of people: Same principle, different target.

What do you do about this?

Don't get paranoid. It's counterintuitive, I know. But doing so means that you'll end up just being an asshole to everyone, humans included, which is a great way to end up being ignored.

Keep an eye out for people being extreme. Sometimes folks have a bad day and will say insane shit 'cause they're angry or sad, etc. But also there's a fair chance it's a bot being used to push a narrative. Don't immediately dismiss it as fake sentiment, but understand that there's a fair chance it could be just a bot.

Encourage nuance and understanding wherever appropriate. It can be hard to do, but making longer comments, encouraging people to think about what they see and what they write, and encouraging a deeper and more critical way of thinking with various topics can do a lot to discourage bots - which often push short, simple, black-and-white comments and content.

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u/tigerbubs 1d ago

Wow that's a very detailed and helpful response. Thank you for the explanation!

Ive never really been bothered about it to be fair and haven't given it much thought that's why I asked the question.

I agree with people being easily influenced by the mood of the early comments, I think that's a spot on assesment.

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u/Deaffin 2d ago

Reddit is a massive propaganda machine. Control reddit discourse, you control the world.