I'm sure nothing bad could come from this right? It's not like we've seen any other examples where this type of monetization in social media has created a pipeline for right wing radicals , propped up by rich conservatives with a fascist political agenda.....
R*ddit has def been in the algorithm game for a while, it's no different than any other social media feedback loop to sell ad space. It just took slightly longer getting there.
Even 8, 9 years ago, sub suggestions were just an adaptive algorithm, monetization was always the long-term goal. Same for Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat. You had to build a giant, engaged audience first for free, only then could you monetize it over time to a giant yet specific demographic.
They've fine tuned it over the years to be more accurate, culled the controversial content that makes companies upset, and slowly started leaking ads and sponsored content into the feed. Your feedback loops condition your feed. Try logging into your name on another device or use the reddit mobile app. You'll see different feeds for the same user sometimes.
Like 7,8 years ago you'd start blocking main subs to opt out. Then 5-6 years ago you'd have to block power users. Then 3-4 years ago you could earn an opt out of ads by getting dumb internet awards.
As they fine tune the results, ads will continue to get more prevalent and also more apparent. This stuff has been going on for a long time in R*ddit unfortunately
I'm also sure that this recent "green" move by Frito-Lay has nothing to do with the strike that happened there recently and isn't a means of getting some good publicity going, with the algorithm designed in such a way to promote it....
