Where Reddit differs among its tech peers is in its striking dependence on its user base to keep things operational. Reddit must keep its users satisfied and its efforts to expand its limited (and already unpopular) advertising formats could send users packing. 98% of Reddit’s revenue is made up of advertising income. And of that, 26% came from just 10 ad clients in 2023. Investors will be watching this closely and expect more diversity sooner rather than later
Sure, you never mentioned good moderation. But I don’t think that they’ll be able to exploit it - for investors risk assessment is bread-and-butter, and they know that anything “AI” might crash the following second. Plus the lower quality of the site would be visible as soon as they implemented AI moderators, generating even further risk almost immediately.
I get your reasoning though - it doesn’t need to be good for the site, only passable enough for the suckers buying shares to trust it.