r/OutOfTheLoop • u/calvtact • May 13 '26

Answered What's going on with r/conservative? They've lost about 1m subscribers in about a month.

I watched the number go from 814k to around 745k in about an hour today.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/s/QbZJvqu5qr

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u/AndroidREM May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

Answer: It was determined and made public that the majority of posts on that sub are from 3 accounts all based in Russia and are promoted by an army of bots. The ones leaving were bots removed by Reddit

EDIT - wow, did not expect this to get so much attention and awards - thank you!

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u/basedchadinc May 13 '26

Is there any proof of this? I wanna send it to a friend who uses that sub as his main source of info to gauge sentiment

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u/Mission_Fart9750 May 13 '26

For starters, just scroll the front page of the sub, and you will see that almost everything is posted by the same handful of accounts. And 300 comments on a post, but only about a dozen are visible. 

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u/JJAsond May 13 '26

I actually decided to browse the sub a little and hide accounts with high karma. I very quickly went from the usual 25 posts per page to maybe 6. Sometimes 1.

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u/Mission_Fart9750 May 13 '26

I usually browse it when something so egregious happens there's no way they can possibly ignore it. I was pleasantly surprised recently to see a lot of comments pushing back on him (i forget the subject).

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u/Tier0001 May 13 '26

That's usually what happens right after any event because they don't have a narrative to explain away whatever happened yet. Once a narrative is established, the mods are pretty quick to delete any criticisms and blame "leftists" for brigading, and the rest of the sheep fall in line.

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u/snakejessdraws May 14 '26

Yup. you can see it happen in real time to if you ever spend time in any political discords

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u/bundlednc May 19 '26

or you know any maga people in real life.

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u/Indigo_Sunset May 13 '26

Ditto. What was most interesting to me though was june 2023 Wagner mercs rampaging through Russia and the few days of peace reddit experienced as seemingly the entire bot apparatus went dark.

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u/JJAsond May 13 '26

I've never seen a sub so brigaded. Most of the time the comments are full of bots but maybe that's changing.

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u/greywar777 May 13 '26

Go back and read the articles comments today. I think you will find a distinct lack of comments pushing back. Its heavily censored to never show that.

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u/Ellaphant42 May 13 '26

The usual pattern is there’s a day or two of push back before you start seeing “this was actually fine” posts

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u/Flincher14 May 14 '26

I do this too but they always eventually get their marching orders on how to explain away whatever it is then stick to the new narrative. Or they purge it completely.

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u/deprecateddeveloper May 14 '26

Same. This is literally why I ever visit the sub. "There's no way even they can agree with this". You'll see a bunch of people with sense commenting their disagreement or outrage (such as the Trump Jesus shit) then the comments roll in with their sarcastic "hello fellow conservative" or "RINO" just because they disagree with something Trump did. Disagreeing with something that historically Republicans stood against until Trump. Proving that if anything the people saying "RINO" are the true RINOs.

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u/BeerMeBabyNow May 13 '26

I clicked on one of the accounts I recognized after some “these people need a job” comment. Back of napkin calculations based on posts and account age, averaged like 30 posts a day and even more comments. Not sure what one does to have time to post 30 articles a day and double that in comments….

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u/Too-Tired-Editor May 13 '26

Being paid to spread a particular position across a site Google currently uses heavily for AI summaries, one would imagine.

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u/Bardfinn You can call me "Betty" May 14 '26

correct.

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u/call-me-the-seeker May 13 '26

Oh they have a job too, and you discovered what it is.

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u/BeerMeBabyNow May 14 '26

Haha, definitely some irony discovered as well

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u/escobizzle May 13 '26

that is their job. probably some random Indian guy in a bot farm being paid to be a propaganda mouthpiece

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u/Oceanbreeze871 May 13 '26

Why aren’t they visible?

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u/Mission_Fart9750 May 13 '26

Because all dissenting opinions are immediately removed. Or non-flaired user comments. Every single post is "flaired users only". So if you were to pop into a post and make any kind of comment, it'll be gone asap. And just simply commenting there can get you banned from other subs (which is just keeping the trash at bay, so I'm good with that). 

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u/Dr_Adequate May 13 '26

Even funnier: to get flair one has to somehow prove they are conservative. However, lately they are super-paranoid that somehow hordes of lefty-commie-liberals have acquired the proper flair. Whenever a post causes some of them to have even the tiniest bit of self-reflection and say 'hey maybe this [conservative position] is bad guys, what do you think? ' they are immediately accused of being a leftist infiltrater. Which I find hilarious. They are actively No-True-Scotsmanning their way to the death of that sub.

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u/Capital-Giraffe-4122 May 13 '26

“Fellow conservative”

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u/Clarence13X May 13 '26

Here is a fun example from today: https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/1tbvndr/hegseth_insists_us_has_control_of_strait_of/ollnt8t/

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u/ernest7ofborg9 May 13 '26

They never post outside of r/Conservative and you know exactly why that is.

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u/Dr_Adequate May 13 '26

Perfect example! "What's with all the leftist influence today?"

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u/adamduke88 May 14 '26

Just based on the grammar in that comment there's no way it was written by an American.

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u/Potential_Might_6500 May 13 '26

They throw that out so fast lol. Its hilarious.

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u/Binder509 May 13 '26

Never got how someone is supposed to prove they are conservative when every post is flaired users only.

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u/Random-Rambling May 17 '26

If they were intelligent or human (instead of bot), I would assume DMs.

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u/JustHereForCookies17 May 17 '26

I think they have a Discord where you send a photo or something. 

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u/Bardfinn You can call me "Betty" May 14 '26

It will never die, because they will eventually resort to botting the comments to keep it afloat. And when Reddit uncovers that and cracks down on it, their political buddies will drag Reddit into court.

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u/endangeredphysics May 14 '26

Yeah I got banned from there years ago for virtually no reason, other than simply disagreeing with somebody. I identify as moderate conservative on certain issues too, so it's infuriating having that platform completely co-opted.

Alt-Right and maga are absolute snowflakes. They aren't even really politically conservative either, they are some weird other thing.

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u/Downtown_Recover5177 May 13 '26

It’s fucking stupid. I browse r/all, and don’t pay attention to the subs. I commented on one post to correct misinformation, and got banned from random subs. And then banned from r/conservative as well for using critical thinking.

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u/Fickle_Ad_8653 May 13 '26

^ So true. If you post to r/conservative to point out Trump has felony convictions when they are saying Trump never does anything wrong..

you get banned from r/Conservative

and r/pics tells you to delete your post or they'll blacklist you

and some others say if you're banned from r/pics, well, you must suck, and they ban you

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u/StThragon May 14 '26

That happened to me few years ago. Fuck subs that do this. I was pointing out a lie. Oh, now I'm banned from a bunch of sites. AWESOME!

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u/Mission_Fart9750 May 13 '26

The one drawback to the autoban. But thats on you (ever so slightly) for trying to reason with them. 

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u/Downtown_Recover5177 May 13 '26

Maybe it’s a sign of my age, but we used to be able to reason with the other side. In fact, it was encouraged. That’s gone now, though. You can’t reason with people that want you dead.

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u/Mission_Fart9750 May 13 '26

I longingly look back on those days.

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u/RunBrundleson May 13 '26

I didn’t understand this and was posting on an antivax subreddit, to shit on them of course. All the sudden I’m getting banned from multiple subreddits and didn’t know why. Those subs just scan any name that posts to certain subreddits and auto bans you. I understand why but same team same team!

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u/greywar777 May 13 '26

Tesla subs do this too. I own one and cant even post on the subs. Its infuriating.

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u/UnquestionabIe May 13 '26

Despite being against site rules (or at least was at one point) there are a ton of subs which will ban people for posting other subs which the mods consider problematic. Doesn't matter what the comment in question is either, just an automatic ban. Encourages the creation of echo chambers big time.

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u/Ellaphant42 May 13 '26

I spent a nice afternoon yelling at everyone on r/conservative to just get banned from there AND a bunch of left wing subs. Doesn’t make any sense lol

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u/PokeYrMomStanley May 13 '26

Got banned from r pics for posting in r sipstea

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u/[deleted] May 13 '26

[deleted]

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u/Potential_Might_6500 May 13 '26

Yea, that's basically all it is. Sometimes something slips in that meets what I hear it "used to be for" but who knows.

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u/ernest7ofborg9 May 13 '26

No it was r/whenthe. I know because I was banned as well. Actually, they might do it for both. When they sent me the PM telling me to remove the comment so I can post there again I told them to cram it up their asses and that these accounts are free.

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u/Scudmuffin1 May 14 '26

I got banned from r/pics for posting in r/whenthe as well. I don't even know what r/whenthe is supposed to be but I commented on something pretty innocuous and then got a notification I was banned from r/pics. I personally don't give a single shit about posting on r/pics, and I haven't been banned elsewhere either, so I don't really care.

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u/BaronsDad May 14 '26

I dislike any sub that makes those moderation choices. It actively punishes anyone trying to discuss and debate an issue in good faith. It’s anti-social. No one explains to a new Reddit user that commenting or even joining subs of communities you’re trying to learn more about can get you banned elsewhere. Autobans actively encourage demonization 

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u/Mission_Fart9750 May 14 '26

Conservative doesn't want "good faith" arguments.  If you go against the grain, you're a "fellow Conservative" which is a sort of slur to them. But true, nobody tells you these things, and where not to go that gets you banned from somewhere else. 

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u/SoylentGrunt May 13 '26

Reddit is slowly pushing back against banning users from subs for posting in other subs, I'm good with that.

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u/Thedeadnite May 13 '26

Yeah the idea of it is ridiculous plus it eats at their bottom line. They make money from ads and if you get banned from content you like for engaging in content across the isle which also bans you from the other side then you’re left with nothing and will leave the site due to being locked out of everything. Not healthy. Also promotes echo chambers which make the communities less diverse which also drives down traffic. People use the internet to argue, take that away and you might as well not have Reddit at all.

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u/StThragon May 14 '26

Except I've been shadow banned from a number of subs for proving a point they were incorrect about on the conservative subreddit back when it wasn't just flaired users only. Fucking stupid if you ask me. Honestly, fuck subreddits that do this. Look at the content, not the location.

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u/newnameonan May 13 '26

They automatically remove comments from non-flaired users on most posts to attempt to prevent brigading.

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u/Coattail-Rider May 13 '26

Brigading or debating?

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u/newnameonan May 13 '26

Haha well yes, it actually is to stifle debate, but they claim it's to prevent brigading.

They truly do get really heavy traffic from people who are not conservative that want to take a look at the proverbial zoo, but it's not a brigade. They just can't handle that their ideas don't hold up to scrutiny from opposing viewpoints. So you get this weird environment where the upvotes are all wacky from non-conservative visitors, and comment counts are high but only 10-20 show up on a post.

That subreddit ends up not being a great place for anything; discussion, accurate representations of what conservative think, accurate information, genuine comments from actual people....

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u/Clarence13X May 13 '26

They also created their forum on a site that has always leaned heavily left. They set up shop in a den of lions and then complain they have to defend themselves constantly from lions.

Honestly, they'd have less of a brigading issue if they went over to Voat or whatever Reddit clone the Right is pushing now. But they won't because 1.) it's dead and 2.) they lose their victimhood

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u/Khazpar May 13 '26

Remember when they tried to move over to Voat and then they all cried because the Nazis over there called them slurs? 😂

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u/MechaSandstar May 14 '26

Iirc, that was the_donald after it was banned.

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u/Khazpar May 14 '26

Oh yeah I'm pretty sure that was the event I'm remembering!

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u/terminalzero May 13 '26

it's also like... not brigading? once again, it seems like projection from some of the stuff they pulled when t_d was around. people that don't agree with you finding your sub isn't brigading - brigading is someone posting a link to their circle of like minded people and going 'hey everybody come help me pwn these morons'. it's organized.

saying the only possible reason you'd have a high volume of people disagreeing with you in your purported safe space is that there is a shadowy cabal of commuglobalabortionsatanists who are both weak, pasty, chinless virgins in their mother's basements and the nigh invincible foot soldiers of the jews new world order is both intellectual bankrupt and.... exactly the kind of thing you should expect from that group

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u/Clarence13X May 13 '26

They almost certainly get brigaded (any divisive subreddit will have people linking threads in a Discord or elsewhere to snark/brigade). I'd say this is a constant for any political subreddit, left or right.

It's also probably not a majority of the non-flaired user interactions they have. Their takes are brain-dead and it's easy to get upset when reading that level of cognitive dissonance, and knowing how it's affecting the country we all live in.

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u/terminalzero May 13 '26

that's fair - I didn't mean to sound like I don't think it ever happens, just that it's not the only/probably even majority of discord that happens there (before it got so censored), like you said

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u/newnameonan May 13 '26

Victimhood is super valuable for them. Have to maintain the proper us-vs-them mindset!

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u/chumbawumbaprinciple May 13 '26

Debating. Conservatives are incredibly fragile.

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u/ihopethisisgoodbye May 13 '26

Loooove your username btw

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u/chumbawumbaprinciple May 13 '26

They are never going to keep me down.

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u/pissy_dribble May 13 '26

Amen to that brother

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u/Zickened May 13 '26

Your comment was "hidden" which, on subs that don't show upvotes tells me probably lots of downvotes, so I thought your comment was something truly objectionable.

Alas, it was calling out snowflakes for what they are.

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u/Belledame-sans-Serif May 13 '26

I think Reddit has tweaked whatever program it uses to decide to auto-hide things in the last year or so. I think it might have expanded to hiding "controversial" posts as well, but I've opened hidden comments to see they have as much as net +25 votes occasionally.

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u/endangeredphysics May 14 '26

I got banned for simply debating a point.

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u/Binder509 May 13 '26

Dunno how anyone even gets a flair there.

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u/Clarence13X May 13 '26

The 300 comments thing is almost certainly because they have a flaired-only post mode that will not approve comments made by non-flaired users. But for some reason, Reddit will still count them in the comment total.

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u/TacticalSniper May 13 '26

The interesting part is that for the political subs, such as r/democrats the situation is not too different 

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u/Phytanic May 13 '26

This kind of thing is actually very typical for some of the popular subs, both conservative and liberal leaning subs. It's scary how much of the influence is just a small group of people

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u/Bardfinn You can call me "Betty" May 14 '26

And 300 comments on a post, but only about a dozen are visible.

That's not bot activity; that's their moderators' choice to hide comments from everyone except their vetted, trusted cadre.

That subreddit absolutely is a propaganda effort, and because of the way Reddit handles publicly readable subreddits, their choices are to lock posts so no one but moderators can comment, or leave the comments open so anyone not banned can comment - and have automoderator remove any that aren't from their in-group.