Reddit Cracks Down on Shady Spammers

If there’s one thing we all hate, it’s spam. While the delicious lunch meat definitely has its fan base, spam messaging is all too common across all corners of the internet. Often, spam is just annoying, taking a few seconds (maybe) to delete a message or block a caller. But, spam can sometimes consist of imagery or messaging that is illegal or otherwise offensive. As technologically advanced as we’ve become, most big internet companies or social media networks lack the resources to step in front of this firehose of junk. Enter Reddit, the one social media company trying to cut down on spam in meaningful ways. 

Reddit is calling itself “the most human place on the Internet” after it recently rolled out new “Automated Tools” that significantly limit the amount of spam content found on Reddit. Rather than waiting hours or days to act on deleting illegal content, Reddit has begun using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to delete the bad content a mere five seconds after it is posted. 

Reddit uses a form of AI based on pattern recognition in language called a Large Language Model (LLM). This type of Artificial Intelligence can detect even the most miniscule patterns across millions of spam posts and has been used to identify real from fake, usually doing so in under five seconds. Spammers avoid detection from humans and other older anti-spam systems through frequently switching up speech patterns and language in their posts. These patterns used to be vague enough to stay on the internet, but Reddit has stepped up enforcement with use of this effective AI model.

In just a few months, Reddit has put up some impressive daily averages. The data show 23 million blocked spam views per day, more than 25,000 posts and comments blocked per day and has blocked almost 2 million spam votes on polls across Reddit. What’s more, Reddit users have also been enjoying a 20% reduction in exposure to spam accounts. 

In addition to their effective AI, Reddit has been taking charge for years by enlisting volunteer platform and community moderators, as well as attaching meaning to upvoting and downvoting (essentially demoting downvoted/disliked content while promoting upvoted/liked content). Reddit’s Safety team is a big chunk of their staff, dozens of whom are “proactively” deleting and reporting illegal content. Community mods also have tools at their disposal to catch spammers. Namely the Reputation Filter, Crowd Control and Ban-Evasion Detection. The Reputation Filter judges accounts wishing to post in subreddits based on a “Contributor Quality Score”, an aggregate of karma, account signals and verification. Crowd Control allows moderators to properly categorize posts or comments that don’t come from known members of their Reddit community. The Ban-Evasion Detector helps moderators flag posts and comments coming from users who have already been banned but have created a new account or otherwise found a way around their previous ban. These three tools are a human moderator’s best defense against spammers and when combined with AI, these tools become even more effective. 

So, if you’re looking to use a bunch of proxy Reddit accounts to spam people with links or maybe some illegal content, your time is up. In an era of increasing social media restrictions, bans and age limits, some companies are actively trying to make things safer. OnlyFans, for example, has one of the best examples of high tech, airtight age restriction software. Also, not only is it possible to remain 100% anonymous on OnlyFans; the platform doesn’t store any personal information. Though no platform is perfect when it comes to security in the digital age, OnlyFans and Reddit are giving their competitors a run for their money.