Many people think the internet ecosystem in Silicon Valley is more standardized than in China, with better protections for user rights. After reading what happened on Reddit, you’ll find that the “scarecrow” species exists regardless of borders.

On Reddit, hundreds of millions of users post, reply, and fight every day. According to disclosures in Reddit’s own IPO prospectus, the platform has signed multiple data licensing agreements with a total value of more than $200 million, and the content produced by users has been licensed to AI companies for model training. But if users themselves use AI-generated content in their posts, moderators may directly impose a permanent ban.
Even more striking: Reddit’s largest individual shareholder is the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, whose stake at one point was close to 9%, which is more than Reddit’s own founders. OpenAI pays Reddit about $70 million per year for these user data. The left-hand company spends money to buy content, and the right-hand company gets paid to sell it.
Interestingly, the fact that moderators ban AI content may precisely indicate how much the platform depends on “human-written content.” AI-generated content used for training models is far less valuable than content written by real people. So the platform not only needs you to write for free—it also needs you to ensure it was written by hand.
Even the “scarecrows” demand pure, natural, organic 🤡.