Ask HN: Has anyone tried to copy Reddit's app and growth hacks? What happened?

Reddit has so many problems and drama over time. And, to me, obvious ways they could improve the platform (topic discoverability, moderator support, transparency).

And these flaws feed in to a vicious cycle of drama and poor experience. For example, because a subreddit doesn't have to link to related subreddits, the mods have a lot of power - "consolidating" their views and users. And this leads to drama and lack of transparency and shadow banning.

The app itself is simple, conceptually. And the growth hacks employed are well known, e.g., creating many fake accounts to prime the "activity" pump.

Have any competitors tried to repeat the success? How have they done?