Thread by @troyd

I found a large black-hat content marketing org. they're paid by startups, then they pay bloggers to write about clients' products for @ITNEXT_io, @ThePracticalDev, @freeCodeCamp - and pretend to be regular users/fans. they then submit to Reddit & HN from many disguised accounts.

I didn't know that black-hat content marketing existed, but it does and these folks have at least a dozen clients. you'd recognize some of the names.

as you'd guess, I'm doing things to make their approach… less effective.

once I tugged on the thread, it just kept unraveling. fascinating to see how easy it is to run a propaganda campaign on Reddit. this one is targeted at engineers.

(if you know someone in Reddit's trust & safety dept, I've got a crazy find for them. I doubt Reddit cares.)

in case it helps anyone, here are authors who have written for this black-hat content marketing firm: @AntonLawrence5 @Justin_devops @GeorgianStan9 medium.com/@arinoman @ginomessmer @OyetokeT @Diptokmk47

/cc @freeCodeCamp @ITNEXT_io @joinfaun @ZackShapiro @BttrProgramming

here's clients of the black-hat content marketers. they received paid posts disguised as by regular users, then promoted from 10s of fake Reddit+HN accounts:

@AccessiBe
@climacell
@Imperva
@LoadmillTeam
@rookoutlabs
@WhiteSourceSoft (SecureCoding com)
@Testcraft_io

#security

(and authors, if one of you is up for posting the full story, I'd welcome it. for example, did an individual contact you after reading your "real" posts? did they start by just suggesting content, or go straight to offering money for posts? did you pick the topic or did they?)