One Reddit user reveals exactly why you shouldn't trust everything you read online, as they claim to have been paid a shocking amount of money by 'big meat' to discredit veganism on social media.
Millions of people across the world have opted to switch to vegan or vegetarian diets for a multitude of reasons, including the environmental impact, consciousness of cost, preference for a healthier diet, or even the simple desire to not eat animals.
You might encounter some 'preachy' vegans on the internet who are more inclined to discredit the diets of others alongside boasting their own eating habits, but they're typically a vocal minority of the countless people who simply go about their days without eating animal products.
One thing you might not have considered though is that those loud voices could come from individuals looking to 'discredit' veganism and not-meat diets, as one anonymous Reddit user claims they were paid by suspicious individuals to paint vegans in a bad light.
Advert
Posting on the r/AMA subreddit, the user claims that "for a year I worked for a meat industry trade group," where their job "was to go on sites like this and discredit veganism."
While this might seem like a ridiculous thing to get paid for to some, it will definitely have an an impact on the way that vegans are perceived, and might have even convinced some to turn their back on meat-free diets or be more cautious to try one for the first time.
"We'd make multiple accounts and pretend to be vegans who had bad health outcomes," the poster explains. "Or we'd pretend to be vegans and we'd push the vegan subs to be more extreme, and therefore easier to discredit."
When asked, they revealed they were paid $17 an hour to do this unconventional job, revealing that it "wasn't worth it" in the end and it didn't take them long to quit.
"I didn't realize I felt guilty when I quit. I hated the job after like a week," the poster recalls. "At first I thought it was edgy and funny. I think I did feel guilty though. I just couldn't do it anymore. I needed the money, but some things aren't worth it [...] I now realize I was screwing with good people who are trying to make the world more humane. It was a bad job."
Their main message – outside of the reveal that negative perspectives on veganism could be driven largely by fake actors – is that you shouldn't believe everything you read on social media, with the motivation for this post being the reveal that numerous 'American' far-right accounts on X are actually being operated in foreign countries.
"Be skeptical of everything online and consider sources. Are they credible. You have every right to be skeptical of me. If you are skeptical of me, and others, then I have done my service in making people smarter and better protected from scams and frauds," they argue.
This is only becoming more relevant by the day as rapid improvements to artificial intelligence technology are made, and hammers home that the internet is very much a wild west of information that is almost impossible to really see for what it actually is.