The r/GamingLaptops subreddit has been under attack for months from paid actors and bots promoting MSI products, its moderators allege. We've reached out to MSI for comment.
One of the subreddit's moderators, u/Melmpje, wrote in a post that buying advice request threads are being filled with MSI product recommendations. These posts, the moderator said, are using similar or identical comments with different product names, as well as repetitive phrases and tone.
"Even with AI around, the wording is so generic that a chimpanzee could spot them as fake lmao," u/Melmpje wrote.
It's unclear if the moderators have reached out to MSI.
The moderator suggested that the accounts attacking r/GamingLaptops are reportedly a mix of bots and paid actors, created in "poorer countries," that post between two to four times quickly.
This Brand Is Hijacking Our Recommendation Posts & Here’s Why We’re Fighting Back from r/GamingLaptops
The GamingLaptops moderator shared a handful of examples promoting MSI laptops or the brand itself. One of the albums, hosted on imgur, claims that these comments come "every single hour."
The r/GamingLaptops subreddit is a large computer hardware-focused subreddits, with over 472,000 visitors weekly, outperforming even the broader r/hardware subreddit.
Moderators are asking commenters to report posts they find suspicious, only discuss their own experience with laptops, and to disclose any affiliation with laptop companies or face a ban.
