
Reddit, where chaos thrives, tries to clean up to attract ads from big brands - s_Hogg
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-10-05/reddit-where-chaos-thrives-tries-to-clean-up-to-attract-dollars-from-big-brands
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mikece
The key point here is “to attract ads from big brands.” A lot of alleged
banning and deplatforming that is happening on the internet is in the name of
creating a brand safe environment for advertisers. It’s why subreddits like
The Donald will never qualify for ads because advertisers cannot tolerate the
backlash that comes from boycott campaigns that happened because a bulk ad buy
put their logo next to content that triggers a virtual mob. The alternative is
to charge for content and not take advertising (case in point Netflix and the
recent Chappelle special: lots of controversy but no advertisers can pull out
and did anyone __really __cancel Netflix who wasn’t leaning that direction
already?)

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siruncledrew
IMO - it’s inevitable that Reddit (as a company) will need to do some pruning
of subreddits to keep brand interests satisfied.

This isn’t just about political subreddits. SoccerStreams and NBAStreams are 2
popular subreddits to get banned for copyright infringement. DarkNetMarkets
and related Tor subreddits were banned for being avenues to buy drugs. The
counterfeit fashion subreddits are probably also on the chopping block.

I realize these examples are not exactly “moral” to begin with, but I think
what this does show is that Reddit is no longer a Wild West of subreddit
creation and that corporate and government input will increasingly impact what
new measures Reddit implements (or what Reddit restricts) as the need to
figure out a way to make investor-pleasing profits takes priority.

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simonblack
Reddit, like MySpace and Digg before it, has outrun its usefulness. It is a
site in rapid quality-decline.

No doubt its owners want to extract as much cash as they can before it fails
completely, and good luck to them.

