‘I Was Paid to Discredit Veganism Online.’ What This Viral Reddit Post Means for Animals and for You
If you’ve ever scrolled through a comment section and wondered why some people seem weirdly invested in bashing vegans, here’s a clue: One Reddit user claims they were paid by the meat industry to do exactly that. Yes, really.
According to the anonymous poster from a now-deleted account, they spent a year working for a meat-industry trade group whose goal was to infiltrate online communities and make vegan eating look extreme, unhealthy, or unappealing. And they weren’t subtle about it.
Their job?
- Create multiple fake accounts
- Pretend to be vegans with “bad health outcomes”
- Push vegan groups toward more extreme positions so they’d be easier to discredit
In the now-viral thread in the r/AMA (“ask me anything”) subreddit, the poster said the guilt set in almost immediately: “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.”
This kind of apparent manipulation shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the animal agriculture industry’s long history of funding misleading studies, running deceptive ad campaigns, and slapping bogus “humane” labels on animals’ flesh, milk, and eggs. Millions of compassionate humans around the world are vegan for animals, the planet, their health, and their wallets. And the animal-exploiting industries know it.
That’s why they’re apparently willing to bankroll disinformation—anything to keep consumers from learning the truth: Going vegan is the golden ticket to creating a kinder, healthier, more sustainable world.
The Reddit user ended their confession with a warning we should all take seriously: “Be skeptical of everything online and consider sources.” And it doesn’t take much research to know that peer-reviewed study after peer-reviewed study shows that vegans, on average, have a significantly lower carbon footprint. Nutrition experts confirm that healthy vegan foods can help protect us from cancer, heart disease, and other top killers. And most importantly, choosing vegan means respecting animals as the complex individuals they are.
How to Spot an Anti-Vegan Troll
Here are common red flags mentioned in the AMA and seen across social media:
- “I was vegan for 10 years but …” (followed by an impossible-to-verify story)
- Multiple accounts spouting the exact same anti-vegan phrases
- Extreme, inflammatory claims intended to cause fights
- Comments posted at high volume, across multiple platforms, at all hours
- New profiles with little to no personal info, history, or consistency
Why Would the Meat Industry Deceive You? Because Kindness Is Exploding
The meat, egg, dairy, and fishing industries work overtime to keep the public confused because they know what’s at stake: money. Companies plaster cartons and packages with words like “humane” and “cage-free,” but behind every label is the same or worse cruelty to animals.
Real people are going vegan exponentially. Vegan athletes, doctors, climate scientists, and everyday compassionate humans like you are showing how easy it is to thrive while vegan. Grocery stores are packed with plant-based upgrades.
The more consumers learn, the clearer the choice becomes. Being vegan means recognizing that every animal is someone. Cows are sensitive, social individuals who form lifelong friendships. Mother hens teach their chicks calls before they even hatch. Many species of fish sing or create artworks to woo potential mates. No propaganda campaign can erase that.
It’s time for everyone to wake up and stop supporting a system built on suffering. Being vegan isn’t the alternative—it’s the antidote.
