The Dead Internet Theory: Why 47% of Your Online Life is Fake

Have you ever felt like social media comments are becoming strangely repetitive or generic? You aren't imagining it. You are likely witnessing the "Dead Internet Theory" in real-time.

This theory, once a fringe conspiracy, is now backed by alarming data. According to the 2024 Imperva Bad Bot Report, nearly 49.6% of all internet traffic is now non-human. The hypothesis suggests that the "organic" human internet effectively died around 2016-2017. Since then, algorithms have prioritized engagement over reality, and bots have begun creating content for other bots to consume.

This creates a "closed loop" of artificiality. When you doomscroll, you aren't just seeing curated content; you are seeing AI-generated posts, liked by bot farms, and commented on by scripts designed to trigger your dopamine receptors or rage. The "viral" trends you see may not be human consensus, but manufactured illusions designed to keep you on the platform. The question is no longer "is this fake news?" but rather, "is the person sharing it even real?"

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