this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2025
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Let's assume the top executives of Reddit are worried about Lemmy.

Lemmy is taking away users and attention. The ressources that Reddit is desperately attempting to sell to advertisers.

In a meeting, Steve Huffman, Jen Wong, Drew Vollero and Jim Squires decide to spend $1 million dollars on a secret project called Cobra.

Their goal is simple : to destroy Lemmy. Apart from the top management, no Reddit employee is aware of project Cobra, because it must not leak in the media.

How could they actually sabotage Lemmy?

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[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 minutes ago* (last edited 11 minutes ago)

They already blocked the lemmy subreddit. Pretty sure they're already doing anything that they can get away with.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I mean, all they gotta do is make a rule stating that talking about any alternative platforms is against TOS, so probably just that, assuming they can actually enforce it.

Otherwise, all they'd probably need to do is co-opt one of the morbidly obese, chronically online, single digit IQ power mods on there. In other words, any mod on that platform will do. All that bootlicker has to do is ban any and all free speech about Lemmy, as long as it's positive.

[–] Mechaguana@programming.dev 7 points 6 hours ago

Honestly, they should focus on actively moderating their content. I just deleted that app again, its full of ai generated content, full of agitprop, bots commenting walls and walls of engagement, everything and anything is an occasion for culture war bullshit...

Its insane how much the product has degraded, its like one good post for 20 scrolled down, and like half of them are reposts of the same goddamn content from months ago.

I think we should cherish lemmy, and hope to hell that it doesnt become that.

[–] Pfeffy@lemmy.world 0 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I doubt they give a shit. As much as I wish there was an alternative, Lemmy is inferior in almost every way still. Started off as a noble endeavor but now it's just full not only users that are bots but entire instances that are just spam bots.

[–] Skavau@piefed.social 4 points 4 hours ago

What? What instances?

[–] UntitledQuitting@reddthat.com 11 points 9 hours ago

my motiviation for using lemmy isn't that I like lemmy, it's that I hate reddit. so yeah, go for it spaz, i'll just use the next clone.

[–] jsonjson@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Those snoo avatars for the execs look like the most soulless looking art styles possible, sort of like how Chuck E Cheese got rebranded. Pretty gross.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 0 points 5 hours ago

I wonder why gaysian man has no avatar?

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 5 points 9 hours ago

Which one killed Aaron?

[–] Romkslrqusz@lemmy.zip 85 points 19 hours ago

They make a post asking Lemmy users a hypothetical question as to how they would go about doing it

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 25 points 16 hours ago (2 children)
[–] desmosthenes@lemmy.world 13 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

man I miss the open internet; these walled gardens suck ass

[–] NKBTN@feddit.uk 11 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

The only one that really pisses me off is Discord. I bet there's TBs of valuable hype-specific tech support in there that will never be findable via search engines

[–] desmosthenes@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

I’d wager it’ll be used to train some AI or something of that nature..

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 points 14 hours ago

His eyes look so weird in this pic.

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 35 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

They could undo some of the enshittification that Reddit has undergone over the past few years.

[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 10 minutes ago* (last edited 10 minutes ago)

These people can't climb back up their shit slide out of their shithole.

[–] nucleative@lemmy.world 9 points 14 hours ago

Yes, but stock market.

[–] lautan@lemmy.ca 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Wasn’t the lemmy sub recently banned?

[–] moseschrute@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)
[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 minutes ago

The countdown is on. How long until banned?

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 51 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

They could create 6 accounts that post nothing but old memes all day every day

wait

[–] Inaminate_Carbon_Rod@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago

Those “avatars” reek of the metaverse.

I swear it’s where the idea came from.

Source: my ass

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 25 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Step one, appoint a Cobra Commander.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 3 points 16 hours ago

Also appoint a rural SE Asian snake handler, the kind that performs for tourists, as their CFO.

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago

Nice try reddit execs!

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 14 hours ago

why do they have to turn everyone into these weird funko pops

[–] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 24 points 20 hours ago

Yes, but I think Lemmy is too busy hurting itself to really notice.

[–] s@piefed.world 15 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

In a meeting, Steve Huffman, Jen Wong, Drew Vollero and Jim Squires decide to spend $1 million dollars on a secret project called Cobra.

The goal is simple. Try to destroy Lemmy. Apart from the top management, no employee is aware of project Cobra, because it must not leak.

You are speaking hypothetically, correct? Otherwise, source?

Their best strategy would be to poison the content with bot accounts, spam, and morally tasteless voices. Sullying the public perception of the content and services would stigmatize users. Since servers are funded by users and other donors, corporate lobbying or DDoS attacking to make it more expensive to host servers would also be an underhanded strategy.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 9 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Their best strategy would be to poison the content with bot accounts, spam, and morally tasteless voices

You mean, make the Fediverse even more like Reddit?

[–] s@piefed.world 2 points 17 hours ago

The worst parts of Reddit and 4Chan combined and push it to the forefront

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Of course it was hypothetical. Cmon man

[–] s@piefed.world 0 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I figured it was hypothetical but there wasn’t any lead-in and it was said with such certainty

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

The lead in was "let's assume".

[–] s@piefed.world 0 points 17 hours ago
[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Sullying the public perception of the content

Lemmy does that all by itself. I spent the first two weeks stamping out barely disguised anime loli porn and furry porn. Shit still pops up like herpes.

[–] criss_cross@lemmy.world 13 points 16 hours ago

I…can’t say I have the same experience. I haven’t had this problem.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 21 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

A few thoughts:

  • Offer the folks running the largest instances a full-time, salaried position. Make them feel like kings/queens. (You will eventually fire them/try to destroy them.)

  • Now Steve Huffman uploads the special folder on his desktop labeled PRIVATE GOONING MATERIAL and leaks to media that Lemmy is a haven of CP, so that eventually government gets involved and targets Lemmy as a left-wing radical organization allied with Antifa.

  • Introduce a Reddit fediverse instance and aggressively federate with the remaining major instances while also encouraging the federation of Facebook, Google, etc...

[–] Dragomus@lemmy.world 10 points 20 hours ago

They for sure would federate with lemmy, claiming reddit to be the main hub for Lemmy.
But after a good while start randomly dropping/blocking different lemmy instances and just try to stop content being shared across lemmy itself.
It's also right in the ballpark for a zuckerberg stunt as well...

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Damn, the photographer did one hell of a job to not make Spez look like the creepy little pedophile he is.

[–] yoyoyopo5@lemmy.world 9 points 20 hours ago

Nice try, spez. Your empire is crumbling.

[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

They'd have to pay out the $1M to consultants to forward for any actually-effective hands-on gruntwork of trying to influence the social media user market, or technical attacks on the code infrastructure or federated service provider resources. It would show somewhere in their financials.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

They could literally just have 3 interns make hundreds of fake accounts on various instances, and flood the network with low-grade but ultimately harmless content.

My guess is that it is either that, or else bribing people who have existing positions of trust on the network (admins or moderators or powerusers) to undertake some kind of destructive action.

The first is cheaper and much more effective (and won't get detected instantly), the second is more in line with reddit-exec-brained thinking. So kind of a toss-up. Something along the lines of those ideas would be my guess though. I thought about some kind of "embrace, extend, extinguish" strategy like Facebook with Threads, but I think even Reddit isn't stupid enough to try something like that (which would only result in a massive increase in the exodus of users from Reddit to Lemmy).

Edit: Well... something occurred to me. "Low-grade but ultimately harmless content" is exactly what they have been pushing Reddit towards, because they think it is better because it traps people in dopamine loops more effectively. Flooding Lemmy with that stuff (more so than it already is organically) would fuck it up from my point of view, but maybe from their point of view, something like really emotionally toxic random hatred in all directions. Maybe. Anyway, I think flooding Lemmy with content that turns people off via sockpuppet accounts is probably the easiest and most effective way, and I don't see much way to prevent it.

[–] BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 hours ago

Lemmy posts with low grade but harmless content?

So... Business as usual, then?

[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 hours ago

The hypothesis stipulates "Apart from the top management, no employee is aware of project Cobra". So the hypothetical interns are handled by a consulting third party, not Reddit itself.

[–] Temperche@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Sibshops@lemmy.myserv.one 4 points 19 hours ago

The server would probably just get defederated.

[–] Severus_Snape@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

This is all hypothetical of course.

But when actually you think about it, it's realistic. Many corporations operate like organized crime.