Are you still using Reddit to find information about streaming? In this article, we explain why you should no longer trust Reddit for reliable streaming information.

Several years ago Reddit used to be a great resource for all topics related to streaming, cord-cutting, IPTV, torrenting, Kodi, VPNs, etc. However, this platform today has been completely destroyed by the company’s greed, spammers, fake accounts pretending to be real users, and ultimately deception.

What exactly do we mean? If you search for any popular technology topic on Google, you will likely find Reddit towards the top of your search results.

VPNs Example

Let’s start with “best VPNs” as an example. If you search for ‘best VPNs’ on Google you will probably notice this result towards the top.

If you click into this Reddit thread, what you will find is this page being completely overrun by undercover accounts pretending to be real users, fake upvotes, and cloaked affiliate link spam.

While the information about these VPNs in this example isn’t necessarily inaccurate, the concern here are the users hiding behind these posts and their ethics.

It’s unknown if Reddit accounts like “IGotMyIssues” are the actual VPN companies themselves, review websites, or a random person spamming their affiliate links on Reddit to deceive people. Now we are 100% confident that this user is not genuinely helping people choose a VPN, as the agenda is to promote their affiliate links.

We also discovered that this “IGotMyIssues” Reddit account is suspended. If accounts are suspended then why is Reddit still showing their posts/comments to the public?

Our reviews team went deeper down this rabbit hole, and what we discovered was more even concerning. If you read the replies on this same thread, you will notice how all of them point to a cloaked VPN affiliate link.

Now if you hover over each VPN link, you may notice how every single link contains “SH…” in the ID. While we can’t confirm this to be 100% true, it seems that this entire thread has been manipulated by either one person or one organization.

We are also confident that each of these comments has purchased upvotes from a third party source to fool people with “credibility” that upvotes once had. There are dozens of services out there like this website where anyone can purchase upvotes, downvotes, and entire Reddit accounts to manipulate the system.

VPNs aren’t the only technology topic being manipulated on Reddit…

IPTV Example

If you search for ‘best IPTV services” on Google, you will most likely find this Reddit result or a similar one towards the top.

If you click into any of these threads, it’s a similar pattern of fake accounts, fake upvotes, and promotional links.

This example in particular is promoting an unverified IPTV service called “Flix Stream” that claims to offer more than 18,000 channels and 60,000 VOD movies for less than $15 per month.

TROYPOINT has always warned users about the legal risks of unverified IPTV, and how the operators behind these services are often involved in organized crime.

The fact that Reddit is allowing users to promote these unverified options is extremely concerning.

Unfortunately, there is more to the story when it comes to the manipulation of Reddit.

Google’s Partnership With Reddit

If you were not aware, in February 2024 Google cut a deal with Reddit that consists of a $60 million per year investment so Google can train its AI models with Reddit’s data.

Before this deal was officially announced, there were rumors of Google utilizing Reddit’s data several months prior.

Over the past year, Reddit’s website traffic has skyrocketed over 500 percent due to updates in Google’s algorithm, resulting in a substantial increase in Reddit’s revenue.

During an interview with Business Insider, a Google spokesperson stated the following:

“Our agreement with Reddit absolutely did not include ranking its content higher on Search. Our systems surface content from hundreds of forums across the web, and we conduct rigorous testing to ensure results are helpful and high quality.”

Is this a coincidence that Google invests $60 million/year into Reddit and both their website traffic and revenue increase as a result?

Fast forward to March 2024, and right one cue Reddit goes public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) available for trading. This entire situation screams corruption.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, we wanted to publish this article so users are aware of what’s really going on with Reddit. This platform used to be amazing just a few years ago, but unfortunately it seems greed and corruption have taken over.

Whether it’s link spam, fake accounts, manipulating upvotes, or misinformation, we do not trust Reddit anymore for information pertaining to VPNs, IPTV, streaming, and other cord-cutting related topics.

Comment Below

Do you still use Reddit to get information? Has the platform been completely manipulated? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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