// PC GAMER — GAMING
Reddit tells me it’s not going to make a penny in affiliates from Reddit Reviews and is working hard to avoid inauthentic content
"Reddit does not receive a cut of any purchases made through the buy it now button on product pages."
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A couple of days ago I reported that Reddit is rolling out reviews for different products, informed by Redditors' thoughts and molded by AI into into dedicated review pages for these products. Given Reddit says "many reviews also include images, prices, and purchase links", I wondered whether Reddit would be making any affiliate money from this. Well, I now have an answer: the company tells us it will not receive a cut.
In an email sent to me, a Reddit rep explains: "Reddit Reviews is an organic experience, and Reddit does not receive a cut of any purchases made through the buy it now button on product pages."
Not that I would have had a massive problem with this—PC Gamer earns affiliate revenue itself—but I suppose it's good to know there won't be a financial incentive there at least in that respect. And it does at least tie in with the aimed "organic" nature of Reddit in general.
I was also concerned that users might review-bomb products they don't like, or that companies could use bots to positively influence reviews for their own products. Reddit reassures us about that, too:
"Platform-wide, we are taking numerous steps to prevent and enforce against inauthentic content."
That's certainly more reassuring than nothing, but we'll have to see how it goes in practice. AI and bot farms make the modern landscape tricky business, and I'm sure there must already be actors out there giving pretty convincing supposedly first-personal reviews of products on different platforms, whether to bolster or undermine these products.
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As always, the proof will be in the pudding (or rather, for the pedants, in the eating of it).