Reddit moderators report more stealth brand posts aimed at AI search

In short: Reddit is seeing more posts that look like real advice but may be hidden marketing, and moderators are working to remove them.

What's going on

Reddit has become a common place people look for honest opinions, and now AI chatbots often quote Reddit when answering questions. That makes Reddit mentions more valuable to brands, even if there is no direct link to a company website.

The Verge describes a recent example in a skincare community. A user asked about a hypochlorous acid spray (a skin product often used for acne). One commenter recommended a different brand, Honeydew Labs, and added specific details like percentages and endorsements. Other users and moderators later noticed the account repeatedly praised the same product across multiple threads, and moderators began automatically filtering mentions of that brand for review.

Data cited by The Verge from Semrush, an SEO company owned by Adobe, suggests Reddit was the most-cited website in May by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s Gemini and AI Mode. The concern is that marketers may try to plant brand names in Reddit conversations so AI tools will repeat them later, like trying to get your product onto a “recommended” list by slipping it into the notes.

What to watch

Reddit says it is expanding spam detection using AI and large language models (AI systems that write text a bit like predictive autocomplete). The company says it catches about 25,000 spammy posts and comments and blocks 23 million spam views per day. Users may still need to stay cautious, especially when posts sound like overly polished product reviews or repeat exact brand names in a way normal people usually do not.

Source: The Verge AI