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/r/AskBrits banned me for pointing out that there are several threads each day about immigration, each tailor made rage bait. Sometimes they’re not even a quest

/r/AskBrits banned me for pointing out that there are several threads each day about immigration, each tailor made rage bait. Sometimes they’re not even a question. I’ve personally caught a couple of Iranians and Russians brazenly posting such threads at 4am British time (working hours in Tehran) and the moderators did nothing. They simply allow such threads while deleting any thread that goes “is anyone sick of the constant threads about immigration?” These threads generate so much engagement from people of all opinions that it makes the sub appear in people’s feeds as recommended content even if they’re not subscribed to the sub. It gives people the impression that there is only one political subject in the UK that gets any discussion. I don’t know why the moderators of this sub do this, but the effects of their moderation are clear.

themodisonHN 1y ago
On a related note, leaving my gripes with one guy aside, a lot subreddits are also just blatant marketing fronts, with the full blessing of the mods. /u/Turbostrider27 is a shared account between marketing firms. Saying their name in any sub the account is active on will shadow ban your message.
- DiggyJohnson 1y ago
  https://www.reddit.com/user/turbostrider27/ https://www.reddit.com/user/turbostrider27/ That's fascinating. How does an account like this not blatantly violate the TOC for personal or commercial use of Reddit?
  - mrguyorama 1y ago
    Reddit wants to make money, which requires keeping advertisers happy. Why do you think r/hailcorporate was killed?
debtta 1y ago
I've often posted on the internet at 4am local time before. How did you establish the posters were Russian or Iranian, other than by time zone? (4am London is working hours for around half the world population.) Not denying that there are people in these countries who want to cause trouble on the internet. But there are many such people in all countries...
- kranke155 1y ago
  There are huge influence operations basically on every national sub. I found one on r/portugal, clearly coordinated network spreading political news of a certain persuasion. R/donald became famous because the admins turned on national flags for users there revealing a significant percentage was Russian IPs without even a VPN. The Russian users called it “the mark of David” and compared it to Nazism.
  - naldb 1y ago
    I’ve never heard of Reddit revealing the nationality of members of any sub. Do you have a source for this?
    - kranke155 1y ago
      Unfortunately I seem to have conflated facts. 4chan pol has flags, and spez had a bit of a tiff with The Donald users where he changed their posts without consent (removing his name I think) that led to some consternation. There were also investigations showing Russian activity in The Donald. But somehow the flag story is something I seem to have dreamed into this story. Doesn’t seem have happened (even though I have oddly specific memories about it).
  - tuesdaynight 1y ago
    It's crazy for me that it's not a well-known thing that Russia, Iran, China, North Korea and other countries are fueling the polarization of western politics using bots on EVERY RELEVANT social media. The right wing bots are kind of known, but a lot of people aren't aware of other things (e.g., TENET Media [1]), or that they are fueling left wing circles as well [2]. People believe that these countries would love to do that, but for some reason, they think they are not doing as much as possible. [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.19802 https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.19802 [2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/06/25/scottish-independence-went-dark-iran-internet-blackout-snp/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/06/25/scottish-ind...
    - 1y ago

themodisonHN 1y ago

On a related note, leaving my gripes with one guy aside, a lot subreddits are also just blatant marketing fronts, with the full blessing of the mods. /u/Turbostrider27 is a shared account between marketing firms. Saying their name in any sub the account is active on will shadow ban your message.

DiggyJohnson 1y ago
https://www.reddit.com/user/turbostrider27/ https://www.reddit.com/user/turbostrider27/ That's fascinating. How does an account like this not blatantly violate the TOC for personal or commercial use of Reddit?
- mrguyorama 1y ago
  Reddit wants to make money, which requires keeping advertisers happy. Why do you think r/hailcorporate was killed?

debtta 1y ago

I've often posted on the internet at 4am local time before. How did you establish the posters were Russian or Iranian, other than by time zone? (4am London is working hours for around half the world population.) Not denying that there are people in these countries who want to cause trouble on the internet. But there are many such people in all countries...

kranke155 1y ago
There are huge influence operations basically on every national sub. I found one on r/portugal, clearly coordinated network spreading political news of a certain persuasion. R/donald became famous because the admins turned on national flags for users there revealing a significant percentage was Russian IPs without even a VPN. The Russian users called it “the mark of David” and compared it to Nazism.
- naldb 1y ago
  I’ve never heard of Reddit revealing the nationality of members of any sub. Do you have a source for this?
  - kranke155 1y ago
    Unfortunately I seem to have conflated facts. 4chan pol has flags, and spez had a bit of a tiff with The Donald users where he changed their posts without consent (removing his name I think) that led to some consternation. There were also investigations showing Russian activity in The Donald. But somehow the flag story is something I seem to have dreamed into this story. Doesn’t seem have happened (even though I have oddly specific memories about it).
- tuesdaynight 1y ago
  It's crazy for me that it's not a well-known thing that Russia, Iran, China, North Korea and other countries are fueling the polarization of western politics using bots on EVERY RELEVANT social media. The right wing bots are kind of known, but a lot of people aren't aware of other things (e.g., TENET Media [1]), or that they are fueling left wing circles as well [2]. People believe that these countries would love to do that, but for some reason, they think they are not doing as much as possible. [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.19802 https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.19802 [2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/06/25/scottish-independence-went-dark-iran-internet-blackout-snp/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/06/25/scottish-ind...
  - 1y ago