This is absolutely true; it's actually very interesting watching a new 'meme' make its way through the internet, and then the personal, pipeline. In the morning you'll see a reddit post, in the afternoon your friends will send you links to it, and your mom will mention it to you when you call her that night.
> it's not like Reddit is a major focus of corporate attention, either.
And thank $DEITY - the last thing we (it) need(s) is an owner trying to exploit it for another subsidiary's benefit.
On the other hand, it's been long speculated that Reddit is constantly being gamed, that corporate voting cabals are responsible for advertising content rising to the front page, and plenty of other news sources lift information without bothering to credit Reddit or its users.