Is Reddit the last truly social space? The last platform where humans still write

In a world of AI slop, where nothing is anymore credible or distinguishable, there is a real community made of people giving advice, discussing their hobbies and jobs, projects, passions, and TV series. This place is a social network called Reddit. And while the rest of the internet is drowning in artificially generated content, the platform founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian is experiencing what its CEO calls «a breakthrough year» precisely thanks to its human component.

The numbers tell a surprising story. Reddit closed 2025 with $2.2 billion in revenue and 121.4 million daily active users in the fourth quarter, with a 19% year-on-year growth. But behind these figures there is something deeper and more real, an existential battle to preserve online authenticity at a historical moment in which artificial intelligence is redefining what content and social networks mean.

The problem of AI slop

Indeed, if social networks were born to connect people, with the advent of artificial intelligence it is precisely people who have disappeared from platforms, leaving space for AI-generated slop content — low quality, formulaic, designed to trigger emotional reactions and maximize engagement. All social networks are subject to this deterioration and even Reddit, which has always claimed to be «the last stronghold of genuine human interaction on the internet», is at the front line of this battle.

According to a study by Originality.ai, a site specialized in detecting AI-generated texts, 14.7% of Reddit posts in 2025 were probably produced by artificial intelligence. An increase of 13.08% compared to 2024 and 146.30% compared to 2021. The trend is clear and artificial intelligence is gaining ground. But for Steve Huffman, founder and CEO of Reddit, this is not a threat but an opportunity. «We are operating in a fundamentally different internet, shaped by opaque algorithms with growing distrust», he said when announcing the company’s financial results. «In a world flooded with AI slop, people are looking for authentic communities, lived experiences, and reliable opinions». In other words: people will increasingly turn to Reddit.

The 19% growth in the last Q3

And indeed the social network is growing. According to the BBC, in the last third quarter the platform reached 116 million daily active users worldwide, with a 19% increase compared to the same period of the previous year. An even more surprising fact concerns user gender. In both the United States and the United Kingdom, women now represent more than 50% of Reddit users. Among British women, Reddit is the fastest growing platform. A total reversal for a social network that until a few years ago had the reputation of being "a place for nerds" mainly frequented by gamers and tech enthusiasts. «We had this reputation of being gamers and tech guys», said Jen Wong, Reddit’s chief operating officer, to the BBC, «but now we are very balanced by gender and very strong with Gen Z women».

The dark sides of Reddit

But Reddit is not immune to contemporary problems. Professor Yusuf Oc, senior marketing lecturer at Bayes Business School in London, told the BBC that «Reddit’s biggest weakness is that credibility can look like consensus» and that «upvotes reward what a community likes, not what is true», causing misinformation and strong echo chambers in certain subreddits. A Reddit spokesperson responded to the accusations saying that «Reddit policies prohibit manipulated content and inauthentic behavior, and our safety teams enforce these rules using a combination of human review and sophisticated automated tools».

It is not known how long Reddit will be able to maintain this human authenticity, but we know that in the future there will be an increasing need for platforms like this. Less financial metrics, less unscrupulous engagement, more community with real people. When you let people, not algorithms, decide what matters, something valuable always happens. In an increasingly synthetic and fake world, authentic and horizontal spaces will become more precious. And Reddit is one of them.

Takeaways

- Reddit remains today the last bastion of online authenticity in an internet increasingly flooded with AI slop, where genuine human interactions become a rare and sought-after value.

- Despite the presence of about 15% of posts likely generated by AI in 2025, the platform continues to grow strongly, reaching 121.4 million daily active users by the end of the year with a 19% increase.

- Reddit's growth is driven precisely by its human component, so much so that CEO Steve Huffman sees the AI era as an opportunity to attract those seeking real communities, genuine advice, and reliable opinions instead of artificial content.

- Reddit has overcome its old image as a "platform for male nerds", becoming increasingly gender-balanced with over 50% female users in the USA and the United Kingdom, especially among Gen Z.

- In a synthetic and algorithmic digital world, horizontal spaces like Reddit, where real people decide what matters through discussions and upvotes, are gaining increasing and irreplaceable value.