While I wouldn’t put bots past the reddit staff (they do so little about astro-turfing that it’s hard to imagine they’re opposed to it), they’re not the only ones with something to lose.

Reactionaries and extremists have worked very hard to build “mask on” communities that aren’t overtly far-right but are nevertheless an important stepping stone on the way there.

I’m sure they don’t want to start over again on a new platform that is much more difficult to manipulate.

I think its a massive improvement. Reddit did next to nothing about astro-turfing and vote manipulation. Lemmy gives people the tools needed to detect inorganic content.