Today, my front page had a recommendation for a submission from (/r/)JordanPeterson. The suggestion noted it's "Similar to (/r/)MensLib" where I am subscribed. They're not similar: MensLib is a pro-feminist, gender liberation space, while JordanPeterson is a reactionary, anti-feminist garbage heap.

I figured I'd try to block suggested content from this sub. The suggestion let's you "see less content like this" (meaning less pro-feminist gender liberation, too) so that's not quite it. I know from ye olde reddit days that you can block a sub from the front page and figured I'd try that.

This required logging into old.reddit (because of course they'd like to end support for this feature) and adding a filter to exclude JordanPeterson. I did that and refreshed my homepage to see if I'd get a different recommendation.

And... I did. I got a different post from JordanPeterson recommended, this time because "you've shown interest in this subreddit." Classy.

This, of course, is like any other social media platform. "You have interest in (pro-)queer issues? We'll recommend the most popular channels on that topic, all reactionary, genocidal hate." YouTube and Twitter are well known and studied for their conservative bias and rabbit holes, with algorithms pushing people into extremist echo chambers. reddit's not far behind; the content is already here for sure, just need more algs to teach us hate.