this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2026
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Mike Hardaker, who has maintained a Reddit account for 20 years, has been shadow-banned on Reddit. He has posted an update on X, stating that Reddit requires an ad spend to restore organic posting. This demand was given to him in writing.

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[–] tidderuuf@lemmy.world 146 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

So let me get this straight. Some jerk off looking to advertise his site by spamming links on several subs was hoping to AstroTurf COUGH I mean organically post... And Reddit Ad Team saw that and figured they could milk him for some dollars? So this doucher takes to Xhitter to try to get sympathy?

Ahh capitalism at its finest.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 38 points 4 weeks ago (8 children)

wut

Unless the article is absolutely lying, it mentioned the subreddits wanted the posts and couldn't overcome the sitewide ban (i.e. manually approving the content). Your comment is a really huge stretch there.

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[–] x00z@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

He might not be morally good, but what Reddit is doing here is illegal in many places.

[–] comador@lemmy.world 108 points 4 weeks ago (4 children)

First mistake: Staying on Reddit. Fuck Spez.

Second mistake: Complaining about Reddit on X. Fuck Musk.

Let's just hope this user stays away from substack next.

[–] wltr@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 4 weeks ago

Here’s my story on Medium about my journey from Reddit, to X, to Substack! Like and subscribe guys!

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[–] bonenode@piefed.social 51 points 4 weeks ago (12 children)
[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 41 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Writing spam posts like "I'm really satisfied using this website, totallynotanad.com" or "try using Company XYZ, their service is really good"

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 23 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

REAL humans posting. anything that utilizes bots, AI isnt organic, but reddit often bans the real humans over AI posting.

as you know reddit bans people if it looks for patterns thats repeating itself.

[–] bonenode@piefed.social 37 points 4 weeks ago

Hmmm, human posting? I like it.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 18 points 4 weeks ago

Like you just did with your comment and OP did with their posting: non paid ad posting

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[–] aviationeast@lemmy.world 51 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

He posted this on xitter. It goes in the trash along with reddit.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

I mean, if you want more than three people to see the post...

[–] joyjoy@lemmy.zip 33 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

...you'll have to buy ad space. 

[–] elvith@feddit.org 7 points 4 weeks ago

How do I do that on Mastodon, Lemmy, Piefed,...?

^/s^

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[–] mrnobody@reddthat.com 46 points 4 weeks ago (6 children)

That's nothing. I was permabanned for inciting violence or whatever they claimed, which broke rule #1. My "violence" was calling AI stupid (more or less) wishing it'd go away. Ironically, the mod bot banned me.

[–] doug@lemmy.today 23 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

My ~19 year old account was permabanned after three strikes that involved two upvotes of Luigi pictures and then— after seeing a vid of Trump falling asleep— saying he shouldn’t wake up.

Then my alt got a warning for “disparaging communities” after I said one of the two PDX subreddits started so they could talk shit about houseless people, which is a fact.

Three of those were flagged by AI, the last one— the warning— was a person flagging it and couldn’t be contested.

It’s gone to the dogs.

[–] exaybachae@startrek.website 12 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I'm jealous of all y'all who know why you got bans.

I've gotten warning and temp bans, but they never specify why. They never include the content. Just saying promoting this or that is very unclear, like how, when, where? Did I actually?

I always just ignore them and carry on on alts for a while.

Their shit is so stupid. But there's a lot of useful content on Reddit. I still hit up old house and DIY type groups, cause I own an old house, and specific tech groups because of the tech I use, but I don't miss the rest.

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[–] suicidaleggroll@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I pulled a 3-day ban for calling ICE racists. Must have really triggered one of the racist mods.

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I am on a 7 day ban for the same sort of thing, pointing out how ICE targets brown people. "Inciting hate", how is pointing out hate crimes the same as inciting hate? Fight the power.

[–] suicidaleggroll@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

It’s strong “people who point out racism are the real racists” energy

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[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 10 points 4 weeks ago

Mine came from simply saying that a drone would probably take care of a Russian solder seen in a video on crutches heading toward the front lines in Ukraine. Literally just that. Not saying it with any joy or approval, just a statement of fact. Phrased pretty damn much like I said it in this comment here.

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[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 42 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

The bigger news here is that Reddit, as a policy, allows bot posting (organic posting) as long as you're buying ads from them.

[–] wltr@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

C’mon, is it news? Isn’t that the reason we’re all here?

[–] 20dogs@feddit.uk 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I mean there's gut feeling and then there's real actual evidence.

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[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 33 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

Once I got banned like a thousand times within the span of 5 minutes because I reported a pro-Trump post as child abuse. I assume it really triggered some admin.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 14 points 3 weeks ago

I wonder if this admin was named maxwellhill.

[–] Dremor@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Sound more like you learned the hard way what "abusing the system" mean.

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 12 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Oh, no, I didn't give a shit, I burned through Reddit accounts like nobody's business. The fact that the admin was so triggered as to sit there, banning and unbanning me, just to spam me with notifications, was the greatest possible reward I could have ever asked for.

First thing I did on the new account was report the exact same post. Didn't get banned.

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[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 30 points 4 weeks ago

If you didn’t leave when the API pricing went up, everything is your fault.

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 28 points 4 weeks ago

"I got caught trying to advertise for free and they want me to pay for it like everyone else!"

[–] adam_y@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I found out today that they have removed r/all from the mobile platforms.

The one unifying feed... Heaven for it folk experience consensus media or have a shared experience.

By slicing it all up they can tweak individual algorithms to push more jank than ever. No longer do they have to game the system to get AstroTurfed Ads on the front page.

Actually, didn't they used to call themselves the "front page of the internet"? How does that work if no one sees the same page?

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I think most people unsubscribe from r/all anyway and subscribe to subs related to their favorite hobbies and games and work related info. Most of my frontpage is for video games I'm currently playing, programs I'm currently using and odd fun subs like moviemistakes or maybemaybemaybe. I wish I could do that here.

[–] adam_y@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

And that's all cool... But it is weird to take that choice away from users.

Much like here, a quick browse of all introduces me to a wider world with different concerns. It's how I find stuff.

And I'm pretty sure what you do is possible here... What are you having a problem with?

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[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 26 points 3 weeks ago

Fuck you u/spez.

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 19 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't know who this guy is, but the fact that he is crying on twitter about being shadow-banned on reddit tells me I don't really give a fuck about him, his opinion, or his perceived slights against him.

[–] hector@lemmy.today 10 points 3 weeks ago

I care if reddit is dishonestly enforcing rules to force people to buy ads. That's good for us actually. If only we had more enlightened instances with more functionality.

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[–] sturmblast@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago

Fuck Reddit

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

an ad spend

When you're off the used car lot, 'spend' is still only a verb, and the word you wanted here is maybe 'purchase' or 'deal'.

'The spend', 'the ask', and other cheese should stay back with the pre-owned Pontiacs.

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[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Fuck Reddit and Fuck Spez.

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[–] dandylion@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

there are still people on reddit? thats a bot hell

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[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 8 points 4 weeks ago
[–] so_pitted_wabam@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 7 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Just one asshole fucking another with a double-headed dildo. That's all I see.

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[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 7 points 4 weeks ago

Organic posting = euphemism for spamming

If the support specifically says that you are a spammer, then you're a spammer.

I do not have empathy for spammers

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world 7 points 4 weeks ago

Owners of the means of production will use that leverage to exploit you, every time.

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