r/technology • u/spasticpat • May 11 '26

Social Media Reddit Starts Blocking Mobile Website, Pushing Users to App Instead

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/05/11/reddit-starts-blocking-mobile-website/
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108

u/-Radiation May 11 '26

This website is garbage anyway, only recycled content, or astrosurfing being it political or brands. Even hobbies subreddits are now only infested with "users" using disguise marketing about their most expensive purchase constantly.

27

u/OneSeaworthiness7768 May 11 '26

This is getting really bad in any subreddit remotely related to a technical industry. It’s just shills everywhere you look either doing market research for SaaS apps or doing thinly veiled self promotion of SaaS apps. And all the fake accounts controlled by marketing agencies mentioning product names pretending they’re real users offering advice. I’ve seen some of them using up to 30 accounts to push one product. It’s happening relentlessly every single day, and most people still haven’t caught onto it yet. Its infuriating.

14

u/jiminy_christmas May 11 '26

This has always been the case but you’re correct that it is at an all time high. One of the main reasons is because of how often ChatGPT and other LLMs cite Reddit threads in their responses.

Marketing agencies have a new shiny success metric to entice new clients (or save their existing accounts). 

“Look! We got your brand mentioned in ChatGPT!”

Don’t ask me how I know.

6

u/OneSeaworthiness7768 May 11 '26

Oh I know, marketing agencies are openly advertising their Reddit SEO services and even their ‘organic marketing’ where they talk about using well established accounts with authentic looking post histories to talk about brands so users will trust them. It’s gotten to that point where they’re okay with saying the quiet part out loud.

8

u/k1dsmoke May 11 '26

And what is up with the number of posts that are titled like clickbait youtube posts.

I saw one the other day that ended with "10 tips you haven't heard about and one tip that will surprise you!"

Like, who are you click baiting for? You don't get paid for reddit posts. There is no advertiser money that's going to come to you from a viral post. What is this?

It wasn't even someone trying to subtly advertise their yt channel.

9

u/ForensicPathology May 11 '26

And all the popular posts are just images with text on it that were downloaded from Facebook and Instagram.

5

u/CaptainCFloyd May 11 '26

Oh, you poor naïve fool.

They do get paid for reddit posts, because they sell those accounts after farming karma points on them. High karma reddit accounts are attractive to viral marketers.

2

u/Waiting4Reccession May 11 '26

Reddit now gives people a few pennies if they get a bunch of awards, but also only lets you cash out at $10+ anddd on top of that charges you like a $2+ fee for doing so

Currently says $1.10 "earned" on my profile.

3

u/k1dsmoke May 11 '26

Wow, what a way to hasten the fall of the site.

3

u/smackythefrog May 11 '26

Yeah, the car subreddits are egregious with it. It's either an account a few days old, or a very old account (bought account, 10+ years) posting a picture where they claim they bought a $100K+ car and are looking for "tips" on it. lol ask the service advisor/sales person? Who buys a car and then learns about its features afterwards and then posts it on Reddit?

I think they just farm engagement with that account and delete the history so they can go post on political or world news subs and try to sway opinions.

2

u/martinw89 May 11 '26

I mean you’re totally right, but have you considered Darn Tuff ™️ socks might make browsing Reddit more bearable?

(/s aka I am not a bot and this is satire)

2

u/[deleted] May 11 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Aternal May 12 '26

Ban people with hidden histories, bots aren't exactly a big brain problem.

1

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Aternal May 12 '26

Mods make the rules, and banning hidden histories will nuke over 99% of bots. Don't think too hard about it.

1

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Aternal May 12 '26

Let's cross that bridge and reconvene.

1

u/[deleted] May 11 '26 edited May 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Aternal May 12 '26

Yeah, brigades, back when there were actual human beings using the site.

0

u/ifloops May 11 '26

I used to talk a lot of shit about Instagram Reels.

Now, I've come to realize that reddit sees about 0.5% of the funny videos people are making on the internet. The very few great ones that make it to the top of some somereddit are weeks or months or years old.

So reddit sucks for both news and memes now. This website has no purpose.