Reddit Uses AI to Stop AI: 23 Million Spam Views Blocked Daily

Reddit has strengthened its automated moderation systems by integrating large language models (LLMs) capable of identifying coordinated behavioral patterns and waves of artificial hype that previous filters could not catch. "We leverage LLMs to intercept the more subtle and coordinated patterns of fake behavior and artificial hype that older systems failed to detect," the platform stated.

The numbers shared are quite substantial: every day, the automated systems block about 23 million spam views before they reach users and remove an average of 25,000 posts and comments classified as spam. In the first quarter of 2026, overall user exposure to spam decreased by 20% compared to the previous three months. On the front of ranking manipulation, Reddit revokes about 2 million inauthentic votes each day, and accounts suspected of being bots are now required to prove they are controlled by real users.

Reddit also provides insights on moderating hate and violent content: the average time between detection and the application of the necessary countermeasures for English texts has dropped to less than five seconds. Actions against this type of content have increased by over 200%, with a reduction of over 40% in user exposure and a similarly significant drop in false positives, meaning legitimate content is mistakenly removed less frequently. Moderation remains a hybrid job: in the second half of 2025, community volunteer moderators managed more than half of all removals, alongside automation and Reddit's internal teams.

Fake Posts Written for Chatbots, Not for Users

Behind the enhancement lies a problem that the LLMs themselves have helped to create. Brands and marketing agencies are seeding posts and comments on Reddit that mimic spontaneous reviews from real users, aiming to be picked up as authentic advice by chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini. This practice has a technical name, GEO (generative engine optimization), and is fueled by the commercial agreements that OpenAI and Google have with Reddit to access its content: this makes the platform a preferred source for chatbot responses, and consequently a primary target for those engaging in GEO.

Thus, Reddit fights on two fronts with the same tool. On one side is the classic moderation of spam and hate content, while on the other is increasingly sophisticated marketing targeting the algorithm that generates chatbot responses rather than the human reader. The two challenges share the weapon, the LLMs: however, the outcomes diverge, with classic spam showing notable improvement according to the released numbers, while the GEO front remains an ongoing cat-and-mouse game.