Calling them “free-form ads,” Reddit said the new advertisements are its most native format ever, designed to look and feel like community content shared by real people.
The ads, meant to mimic the site’s megathreads, will enable advertisers to utilize a variety of formats in one post, including images, videos, and text.
According to numbers from Reddit, free-form ads got 28% more clicks than all other types of ads on the site and saw a jump in community engagement.
The next time you see an interesting post in your Reddit feed, take a closer look - because it might just be a paid advertisement.
I like how they try to sell the idea that tricking users is in fact a nice and innovative way to advertise
And that the “increased community engagement” isn’t mainly comments of people complaining about being tricked into clicking on an ad.
Apparently click fraud is fine on reddit 🤷♂️
“It’s monetizable!”
Whatever it takes before their IPO. It’s disgusting
I honestly find it impressive how Reddit continues to find new ways to enshittify the platform
My first subreddit to get banned was one dedicated to pointing out obvious ad campaigns.
If it’s not already the law, it needs to be. It should be required that paid advertising be disclosed in all contexts.
Ads are not the only reason, but if you’re still on reddit, you clearly missed the point why reddit became popular.
“28% more clicks” Yeah cuz ppl thought they were actual posts not ads lol
Yep, advertiser don’t care how they got those clicks. They just want the numbers to go up so they feel like their “investment” is doing something. Tricking people into thinking it’s user content, showing half naked girls for a dumb mobile gambling game, showing fake products… they don’t care. Advertisers only have one thought: “Hurr Durr Numbers Go Brr”
This feels like something that would be illegal in the EU. I have no idea if it actually is.