The 2020 study published in Computers in Human Behavior analyzed the top 100 subreddits — the most influential communities on the entire platform. Their finding? 15% of these subreddits contained content likely posted by bots or corporate trolls specifically designed to promote companies or organizations.

Fifteen percent.

That means if you’re subscribed to ten popular subreddits, statistically, one or two of them are regularly being used to manipulate you.

And these trolls aren’t just posting “Buy Our Product!” spam. They’re smarter than that. They post positive news articles about companies. They create seemingly organic discussions. They upvote each other’s content to game Reddit’s algorithm. The goal is to create an illusion of consensus, to make you think everyone loves this brand or agrees with this corporate talking point.

You see a thread praising a company with thousands of upvotes and think, “Wow, people really love this.” But do they? Or did a team of sock puppet accounts create that perception from scratch?

Monsanto’s PR campaigns are a textbook case. Documents and investigative reporting have shown that the company’s agencies actively monitored online discussions about glyphosate, pesticides, and GMOs. They targeted permaculture bloggers, organic gardeners, and independent scientists, labeling critical voices as “anti-science” or “radical,” and used coordinated sockpuppet accounts to push favorable articles and drown out dissenting opinions.

Similar tactics were reported on Reddit, where users discussing glyphosate or Monsanto products were suddenly met with highly upvoted counter-comments echoing the corporate talking points.

Strangely enough, I remember when I had a Feddit account somebody replied to me in defense of Roundup when I shared the Empire Files video ‘Monsanto, America’s Monster’. They actually implied that Roundup is as safe as table salt.