I think I'd say that's consistent with a direction they're trying to send Reddit, for all that it's inconsistent with where Reddit is now.

I think some of the current fire over there is actually aimed at winnowing the hyper-engaged members of the community who are hobbyists and niche interest specialists - and then exchanging them for 'influencers' who are not amateurs, but who have an external financial incentive to maintain spaces, continue engagement, and to toe Reddit's line.

An ongoing remark during the blackouts noted that a whole ton of niche google searches went dull after the reddit portions of the results subsequently bricked. Reddit's niche communities are where people online are going for organic product and service recommendations - people needing advice on products don't search for review sites anymore, they go to reddit discussions. And I think they've realized that the influencer space on IG or similar is exceedingly lucrative.

If they can leverage their own platform's prominence to either boost-for-fees organic influencers or seed dialogue via AI-piloted accounts, that turns into an alternative way of monetizing their placement and niche online.

If they manage to drive off the hyper-engaged community members who might counteract those seeded recommendations, or recapture communities from real organic hobbyists and similar - they can offer key spaces in niche communities with retail importance to both the companies and the influencers ("organic brand evangelists") as a monetization angle down the road.

If you have any way of getting their pitch to prospective partners on record somehow, that would be absolutely fantastic.