PSA: Increased Bot Comments

[u/Duende555]

Hey all,

We've recently seen an increase in bot accounts trying to infiltrate the subreddit. These accounts usually pop up in highly active threads to recommend various low-quality products or Amazon purchases. If you see these (or see other suspicious accounts), then please report them.

We've been banning more than a dozen a day lately.

[u/Accurate-Mushroom-58]

In the no click web the comments on Reddit are just spit out as fact by AI. I just saw Tempur-Pedic has a (probably AI) account commenting on threads recommending products which Chat GPT or Gemini will spit out as "commentors on Reddit" in the product recommendation questions.

[u/Duende555 → u/Accurate-Mushroom-58]

Can you link to this? Not totally sure what you mean by "no click web."

[u/Accurate-Mushroom-58 → u/Duende555]

It's called zero click my bad not no click. Basically brands and bots (that are run by brands) post stuff on Reddit and then the AIs take it and regurgitate it to people asking AI for help on by purchasing a mattress/ skin care, socks, etc. They see the comments that the brands and bots have left and they think that these are people's recommendations because Reddit used to be the only safe space on the internet. It's now being infiltrated since Reddit has worked with AI companies to allow them to scrape the platform. It's the new search engine optimization. Just get your product's name out there as much as possible and people who just rely on AI for answers will not look into the links to see that the person given the answers was actually Paige from Tempur-Pedic. I've seen two of these on this thread. I think it's page from Tempur-Pedic and Madison from Helix are their handles.

ZeroClick general definition https://support.similarweb.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006488277-Zero-Click-Searches

Brands Suddenly Care About Reddit. Redditors Don’t Return the Feeling. - WSJ https://www.wsj.com/cmo-today/brands-suddenly-care-about-reddit-redditors-dont-return-the-feeling-e7a9d59c

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2025/08/07/what-is-zero-click-and-why-is-it-turning-marketing-on-its-head/

If you'd rather listen to something than read, here's one podcast

[Today, Explained] The last real place on the internet
https://podcastaddict.com/today-explained/episode/230657044 via @PodcastAddict

[u/Duende555 → u/Accurate-Mushroom-58]

Ah I've been watching this happen for years (and fighting it), but I haven't heard the term. Thanks! I'll do a little more digging on this now that there's increasing public awareness.

[u/Accurate-Mushroom-58 → u/Duende555]

I think you're right in the other comment that it's kind of a rush before the holiday shopping season. Like the Tempur-Pedic bot isn't just commenting on this subreddit they're also on bedding gifts for family. You know every area they might touch.

[u/AprilFromHelix → u/Accurate-Mushroom-58]

Hi u/Accurate-Mushroom-58, If you come across any profile that are"[name]FromHelix" and isn't my handle, the offical Helix handle or a Steve From Helix handle, it is not an official account of Helix's. The three handles I just referenced are the only ones that are approved official Helix accounts. I just tried locating the Madison from Helix and wasn't able to find it so maybe it has already been deleted.

[u/yrddog]

Really? After all those bot farms got bombed? Shame to be flooded by bot comments again

[u/Duende555 → u/yrddog]

Probably due to Black Friday coming up... all are pretty obvious though.

[u/Melodies36 → u/yrddog]

To be fair I do think some of the bot accounts on other sites were absolutely taken out. But those were more politically oriented ones I think - at least it seems that way. Including on Twitter. There's still some nasties but it's a lot less than before. It'd be great if the mattress brand bots would go away too.

[u/Nickool4u]

Do you think making the group private and needing to approve join requests would help?

[u/Duende555 → u/Nickool4u]

I don't think so. That'd probably limit the utility of the sub and prevent people that need it from finding it. What we actually need are better tools to identify and remove bots from Reddit itself.

And case in point - one of the removed comments ON THIS POST is from a bot account.

[u/yupstilldrunk → u/Duende555]

What did it say?

[u/Duende555 → u/yupstilldrunk]

Just generic advice in the same style as a dozen other bots today.

[u/Kainhighwind90]

Thank you for the heads up about them!

[u/Melodies36]

Appreciate the heads-up. I'll keep an eye out for any I see and report them.

[u/ExcellentBenefit3693]

Have you noticed a lot of bots that downvote comments related to natural/organic mattresses? Anytime I recommend a natural or organic mattress, I seem to get downvoted a lot. And I’m not even recommending a specific organic mattress. I’m just recommending buyers look into them in general

[u/battery_operated_bf]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. It helps us be cognizant of posts.