Summary

Reddit shares have dropped 50% from their February peak, when the stock had soared over 500% from its $34 IPO price last March.

Much of the early enthusiasm came from AI-related deals allowing Reddit’s content to be used for training models, but recent doubts about long-term growth in the AI sector have dimmed that optimism.

Analysts remain skeptical and some call the stock “super overvalued,” noting Reddit still is not making any money.

Market uncertainty and early investor sell-offs continue to weigh on Reddit and the broader tech sector.

Non-paywall link

  • Madrigal
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    1258 days ago

    Aww, did Spez trade the family cow for some “magic” beans?

    Good luck rebuilding the farm now, buddy.

      • @Ledericas@lemm.ee
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        67 days ago

        hi i am the human male, called spez, i was birthed from a alien space ship , and hatched from an egg and sent to earth to manipulate the populace.

    • Talaraine
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      338 days ago

      My parting message to Spez when I changed all my posts was, “Enjoy the IPO asshat!” While I wish I could update that message, it’ll still do. xD

  • @MuskyMelon@lemmy.world
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    1788 days ago

    Lets take a platform driven by community participation and ostracize community users. Yeah that’ll work out well.

    Reddit getting Digged and me likey.

    • That is a deep cut reference. They are relaunching as an AI play.

      That will bring back the people who were providing the free content.

      (/s on the last part)

      • @WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works
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        87 days ago

        Seriously. I remember Digg. My life’s social media path has been slashdot->digg->reddit->lemmy.

        I was there! I saw it all! <shakes cane>

    • @arrow74@lemm.ee
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      8 days ago

      Yep the train from being offered early access to their IPO as a “power user” to a permanent account ban did not take long.

      So here I am

      • @rice@lemmy.org
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        67 days ago

        yep they will, it’ll be grok running 99% of twitter and 95% of reddit in the next 5 years. (and those numbers are probably already near there)

  • @MithranArkanere@lemmy.world
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    298 days ago

    Everyone with half a brain knows that enshitification and pandering to CEObro echo chambers result in the platform losing large amounts of users or even dying.

  • Dr. Moose
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    208 days ago

    Honestly reddit is still underrated in terms of social media value but it’s a doomed platform from management pov. Its just so leaderless and spineless rn.

    • @Ledericas@lemm.ee
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      47 days ago

      they already made thier bank by selling thier shares a while ago, they dont care anymore.

  • TomMasz
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    868 days ago

    Spez fundamentally misunderstands what Reddit is and who it belongs to: the people making the posts and providing the content. The more he alienates the users, the less value Reddit will have. He’s shot himself in the foot and he’s getting ready to fire again.

  • @ShittDickk@lemmy.world
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    387 days ago

    Maybe if they didn’t ban their (majority) liberal users for having “opinions” on the current government, after nonstop rhetoric from conservatives.

    • @rice@lemmy.org
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      127 days ago

      ahhh is that why so many people are here now? I’ve been watching development and browsing but it was pretty dead for years until the last year or so lol

    • @Goblino@lemmy.studio
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      97 days ago

      I used to get banned all the time from liberal users too. Especially, when the whole Bernie Bro thing was happening. r/politics was the fucking worst.

      • @Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world
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        46 days ago

        Are you me? Because I got banned from every group at one point or anotherc… r/guns, r/europe, r/politics, etc. etc.

        Ironically what got my account permanently banned was a comment advocating for disabled access to buildings in r/Europe of all my comments I didn’t expect that one to get me banned…

        After that I scrambled all my comments on my 10+ year old account into AI generated gibberish to poison the well and moved to Lemmy. Now I just use Reddit for porn searches.

        • @Goblino@lemmy.studio
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          16 days ago

          I didn’t think I was you, until you mentioned just using Reddit for porn searches… Ya never know! I made a joke about guillotines, bitched about how the Dems helped let this mess happen, etc. If the stakes were so fucking high, then why did they try to Weekend at Bernies “my friend Joe” over the finish line until his brain turned to mush on live tv?

    • @Ledericas@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      banning people for also calling out right wingers and trolls, worst is banning people for misconstrued statements, and also reporting people,g ets you banned.

      like one time '18 a person asked why people were calling MICHELLE obama a certain way, i said the conservatives called her a gorilla, with gorilla arms, insta-banned.

      they allowed astroturfing on reddit, which makes worst because they are tryint to “look fair” but refuse to do anything about the right wingers control certain subs.

      actual POLICE(former and active) individuals control the legal and videos related subs.

  • @El_Azulito@lemmy.world
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    206 days ago

    I still have no idea why I got permanently banned. The interestingasfuck subreddit said I had multiple violations across accounts—something vague about participating in the Trump subreddit. Apparently, if you so much as post in that subreddit—whether you’re agreeing with them or talking shit to the MAGAts—then go back to interestingasfuck or any other sub with the same rules, they’ll permaban your account. And not just that one—they’ll ban any new accounts you try to make too. So honestly… I guess I DO know why I was banned, but compared to the vitriol I’ve seen on there, mine was not warranted. I’ve even appealed. Fucking hate Reddit now. Cowards.

    • @ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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      96 days ago

      You were banned because you were obviously a person.

      Have you seen the comments lately? Most of it looks like AI bots are replying to AI, upvoted by other AI bots.

      • @TangledHyphae@lemmy.world
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        46 days ago

        You got me really curious so I prompted ChatGPT to give me a redditor style comment that’s anti-Trump followed by another far-left redditor’s reply to it and this is what it gave me:

        Original Comment (Left-Leaning Anti-Trump Perspective):

        “It’s honestly mind-blowing how Trump still has a cult following after everything. The man was impeached twice, incited an insurrection, and openly grifts his supporters with fake fundraising schemes. And yet, somehow, people still think he’s their ‘savior.’ The cognitive dissonance is off the charts.”

        Far-Left Redditor Response:

        “Because the system is fundamentally broken. Liberals act like voting blue is enough when the entire establishment—from corporate Dems to the GOP—is complicit in maintaining capitalism’s stranglehold. Trump is just a symptom of the rot. The real solution isn’t ‘vote harder’; it’s dismantling the system that enabled him in the first place.”

        ^ – this seems to be disturbingly accurate, I can only imagine this being produced at automated scale at this point.

    • @Montreal_Metro@lemmy.ca
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      46 days ago

      I don’t care about being banned and I never read replies or check my inbox because it’s the internet and I don’t care.

    • @Necroscope0@lemm.ee
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      96 days ago

      Apparently all you have to do to get banned from Reddit these days is to hope Musk’s penis implant explodes and burns him to death from the dick up. Worked for me!

      • @TangledHyphae@lemmy.world
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        66 days ago

        Yep, someone in another sub once said “I hope your plant dies” and their whole account was permbanned for “inciting violence”. Against a plant. Hysterical. That site is cooked.

    • @Rin@lemm.ee
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      46 days ago

      Same with offmychest. Banning people like that is also against reddit tos but reddit couldn’t give less of a shit.

    • @turnip@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      Its a really weird place during elections, they’ve basically banned anyone with the opposing view on enough issues that its a full blown echo chamber. People then go crazy during elections trying to get their guy to win and the echo chamber grows exponentially.

  • aramis87
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    648 days ago

    It’s not just the AI bubble, it’s a distinct lack of faith in Huffman and as a CEO. He’s not forward-thinking enough, he hasn’t understood where the company’s value lies, and he’s ridiculously distracted by the latest shiny tech things (reddit NFT avatars, reddit crypto, reddit AI).

    I fully expect Google to buy reddit at some point, exclusively harvesting all the info for their search engine, all the content for their AI models, and all the submission/view/voting data for their user profiles (what are you interested in, what do you think of these concepts, where are you connecting from, here are more ads we can send you, and these are arguments that might sway you in purchasing or other decisions).

    • @merc@sh.itjust.works
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      46 days ago

      If Google weren’t under antitrust pressure, I think that would have already happened.

      In many ways, a Google owner would probably make Reddit better for a while. Google cares a lot more about the data people are generating than making the site itself profitable. They could afford to run it at a loss for years, whereas Reddit investors want to ensure they make money soon.

      But, I’m glad it might not happen. Then again, who knows what will happen to Google and antitrust in the Trump admin, where bribery is now perfectly legal.

  • @grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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    417 days ago

    Their only utility now is in five year old comment threads discussing niche topics, and that can only stay relevant so long.

    • @JustTesting@lemmy.hogru.ch
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      137 days ago

      Though half the time it’s

      deleted

      thanks that really solved my problem, you’re amazing!

      I still have mixed feelings about deleting one’s whole comment history, though i also did that when I left reddit. it’s the right thing to do, but the amount of information lost because of greedy leadership is super sad.

      • @Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world
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        56 days ago

        Don’t delete your account, scramble your past comments into AI generated gibberish. It poisons the well for AI and makes the site even more unusable by humans.

        There is nothing like reading one or two sentences into a comment and realizing it is garbage.

      • @grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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        67 days ago

        I still have mixed feelings about deleting one’s whole comment history, though i also did that when I left reddit.

        Same. I also did that. Mass edits + delete. I wish there was a way we could collectively move all that history to a non-commercial platform.

        it’s the right thing to do, but the amount of information lost because of greedy leadership is super sad.

        Also same. I backed up all my user data for sentimental reasons, but that’s hardly enough to be of any utility on its own.

        I really did feel like I was participating in a community, and was doing something positive with all my posting. I was just treating reddit like any other forum from my youth, not really thinking how ofc it would become commodified and enshittified.

        I feel like such a fucking idiot sucker. Over a decade putting in time outside work, lunch breaks, toilet breaks, morning, evening, just contributing to an IPO package.

        • @C45513@lemm.ee
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          57 days ago

          don’t feel bad; you were contributing to a community. all the people that updooted your posts were grateful for the advice, laughter, kindness, or insight you gave.

          it’s just over now, and we need to build new communities again. nothing lasts forever.

  • @antisocialite@lemmy.today
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    878 days ago

    The censorship going on there is crazy. I understand a site needs to tamp down on violent rhetoric but they crossed the line into absurdity. They banned me for calling out the racism in the GOP platform.

        • Avid Amoeba
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          8 days ago

          But joke aside, socialism and Marx aren’t bad words around here. ☺️

        • @imvii@lemmy.ca
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          238 days ago

          Same. 11 year old account got banned for saying something. I’m not even entirely sure what it was. They deleted it and gave me the finger.

          Fine with me.

          • @carrion0409@lemm.ee
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            208 days ago

            I had my account since the pandemic and I got one 3 day ban for “inciting violence” a few weeks ago and they didnt tell me what I actually did. It was lifted so I moved on and kept following the rules. Then a day after the article about spez caving to musk came out I was given a perma site wide ban for “inciting violence” with no working link to what I actually did. The admins wouldn’t tell me either. I assume it’s because of my activity in left leaning subs and my comments calling Musk a shithead and saying his toy cars are garbage.

            • @antisocialite@lemmy.today
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              198 days ago

              They’ll sweep ban entire comment sections of a submission they don’t approve of and they’re using AI to do it, so there are lots of false positives and dubious reasoning. They’ll send you a message lecturing you on your behavior but delete your comment so you’re left with only a vague idea of what they’re referring to.

              • @carrion0409@lemm.ee
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                98 days ago

                And they wonder why their stock is tanking. The only outcome I see for reddit in it’s current state is being bought out by Google and turned into a telemetry farm.

              • @futatorius@lemm.ee
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                26 days ago

                Before they used shitty AI, they just hired autistic mods who would exaggerate anything into a bannable offense of some kind.

          • @rice@lemmy.org
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            97 days ago

            I got a 15 year old account banned for logging in via tor… they run a tor website for tor access on the tor network lmfao.

        • @WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works
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          57 days ago

          I want to see the comedy-of-errors timeline where Luigi beats the rap based on a technicality or jury nullification…He finally gets out of jail…Then he immediately does it again.

      • @lythium@lemm.ee
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        148 days ago

        Thanks! I came from Reddit too. Looking for a safer place to stay in touch with the community. Are we allowed to say the name of Mario’s brother here?

    • @samus12345@lemm.ee
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      308 days ago

      I have to admit I never thought they would punish users for simply upvoting content that went against their corporate overlords’ interests. True thought policing.

    • @Ledericas@lemm.ee
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      97 days ago

      they are tamping down on the wrong kind of content, anything that disagree with israel, luigis incarceration, or elon and trump is an auto ban.

  • @SirFasy@lemmy.world
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    46 days ago

    Good, Reddit treats its users like preschoolers. If you say something even slightly against their rules, they ban you.

  • @mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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    387 days ago

    lol. It’s only going to get worse. The site used to be the top place to look something up, now it’s just going to be full of deleted answers and disappointment.

    • @NarrativeBear@lemmy.world
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      157 days ago

      Its already increasing hard to find relevant posts when doing a Google search with reddit in search. Most posts are from 2 years ago with low upvotes for niche topics.

      This does make me happy

      • @Ledericas@lemm.ee
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        07 days ago

        For some medical inquire it’s still useful. But if your looking for politics or news, not a good idea, or subs where there’s para social fans of a specific show or actor.

        • @futatorius@lemm.ee
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          16 days ago

          For some medical inquire it’s still useful.

          Anyone who would make a medical inquiry on Reddit, then believe what they’re told, deserves whatever dire consequence happens to them as a result.