via The_In-Betweener:
Aug 27th, 2018 – https://www.macobserver.com/news/reddit-financial-services-companies/
Reddit moderators are aware of this, and do their best to combat this type of shilling. It’s a tough battle, because the first thing they look at to verify an account’s authenticity is to look at its age and level of karma. But there are known examples—like Gallowboob—of old accounts with plenty of karma to push comments and posts to the top.
Reddit is home to many P.R. campaigns. Article referenced in OP talks about shilling on Reddit: (2/20/2017) – https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgregor/2017/02/20/reddit-is-being-manipulated-by-big-financial-services-companies/#5597401a4c92
The business of Internet shilling – posing as a genuine forum user but being in the employ of a corporation to promote their work – is booming. And it has been for a long time. From fake Amazon reviews to the U.S Army astroturfing social media, comment manipulation is as old as the very concept of internet forums.
Fake comments and fake conversations being hard to spot, especially when they’re made by specialist agencies, makes shilling big business.
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The ubiquity of Reddit manipulation, and the ease with which anyone can employ these agencies – or even tactics – should be of concern to millions of Reddit users. Genuine, real user-generated content is key to Reddit’s success. Without the assurance of that authenticity, it makes it hard to take anything on Reddit – and indeed any other popular forum – seriously.