A representative from Sen. Mark Warner’s (Va.) office told The Hill that Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is interested in Reddit as a potential tool of Russian social media influence.

Warner has also spearheaded efforts to scrutinize Facebook and Twitter as potential tools for foreign interference in the election. Reddit declined to comment.
Experts who have studied Russia’s attempts to influence the election say that Warner is right to be interested in Reddit. They note that many fake news stories can be traced back to the platform, pointing to it as the catalyst behind the spread of Pizza gate, a baseless conspiracy theory that sought to link Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to a fictitious pedophilia ring in a Washington pizzeria in the final days of the campaign.
Bradshaw pointed to several examples of hoax political stories disseminated on Reddit ahead of the election, including Pizza gate and allegations of illegal electioneering.
Both posts were from deleted or suspended accounts. It’s unclear if the users had deleted their own accounts or if they were removed by Reddit.

With its focus on viral content and internet culture, Reddit is seen as a crossover space between more obscure internet subcultures like the 4Chan and eight Chan message boards and more mainstream sites like Facebook and Twitter. Like 4Chan and eight Chan, which have become hubs for white supremacists, anti-Semites and other extremists, Reddit has pro-Trump forums where offensive content and news stories with dubious credibility can be posted without oversight.
Warner’s office said that it’s also interested in platforms like 4Chan, but on a more preliminary level, noting that their focus is still on Facebook and Twitter at the moment.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/352584-warner-sees-reddit-as-potential-target-for-russian-influence