Fake people with fake cookies and fake social media accounts moving their fake cursors, clicking on fake websites full of fake content. Is this a true representation of today’s internet?
For those who believe in the theory of the dead internet, yes. For them, the internet is dominated by robots and humans no longer exist in the online environment.
Am I human? What about you?
But what does the theory say?
The dead internet theory is a conspiracy theory created on the internet itself. Its ideas have been circulating on forums for just over 10 years and its basis follows the pattern of some other conspiracy theories.
According to the theory’s manifesto text, posted on the Agora Road’s Macintosh Cafe forum in 2021 by user IlluminatiPirate – something like “Illuminati Pirate”, much of the content produced by humans on the internet today is generated by robots and with a single purpose: world control.
In short, the manifesto states that a large part of the current internet consists of the activity of robots, bots , generating content curated by an algorithm with the purpose of making people consume certain products and not believe in “blatant truths”, such as UFO sightings, for example.
This control, as in every good conspiracy theory, would be designed by large companies and governments – with the United States being one of the main ones involved in manipulating the entire world population, responsible for secretly hiring influencers to promote products that follow a certain cultural agenda.
But putting it simply, how much of this theory could be true?
Is the internet dead?
To support his arguments, the Pirate cites empty posts on social media and the continuous repetition of trends, talking about how bots act to manipulate algorithms and promote certain topics. But despite the conspiracy-based tone that permeates his text, many of the topics covered are already treated as prophecies.
It’s not that the internet is dead, far from it. All the content we produce here, including this text, for example, is produced by humans; I know several of them myself. Our readers also exist – after all, some of the comments we read here are impossible for artificial intelligence to generate.
But the fact is that a large part of the internet is already occupied by bots. In 2016, cybersecurity firm Imperva issued a report stating that 52% of web traffic was from bots . In 2021, Barracuda – another cybersecurity firm – updated that percentage to 62%.
So, even though 2/3 of the world’s population has access to the internet through some device, online traffic is already dominated by robots; and they are indeed trying to manipulate people.
The beginning of decay
But it is not a scheme for world domination or manipulation. These robots serve the interests of several people and organizations, with multiple interests.
In an analogy, it would be like the advertising market, which is always trying to get you to buy something, whether it’s the latest car or a new cell phone. But this market doesn’t serve just one company or government.
The dead internet theory makes a direct connection to some of the hottest topics, from the supposed death of Google search to the advancement of artificial intelligence. And all of this is also mixed up, somehow.
SEOs interested in manipulating search results use AI to generate meaningless content for fake websites in order to make money. Malicious people generate crazy images to try to break people’s belief in the virtual world (and also make money from engagement).
Modernity has brought facilities to produce all types of synthetic content, and the trend is that it will not stop here.
In a report released in 2022, Europol states that by 2026, 90% of online content could be synthetically generated. Timothy Shoup of the Institute for Futures Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark, estimates that by 2030 more than 99% of content on the internet will be generated by AI.
And the path – in a way – has already begun to be traced in this way. More than people, machines already have difficulty identifying and distinguishing the behavior of a real human and a robot.
At some point in the past, YouTube employees feared what was called “The Inversion,” where their systems would start seeing bots as humans and vice versa.
It’s no wonder that companies like Meta, Google, and X itself (formerly Twitter) have tried to implement internal policies to exert some control over bots . After all, how can they accurately measure their own statistics if the data is filled with fake engagement?
These are fake people reacting to fake content generated by fake accounts. It’s an orchestrated theater with the aim of electing someone, promoting an artist or simply gaining more followers to boost their online ego. These are lies that, told over and over again, try to become the truth.
After all, topping a streaming service globally or winning an election in a major nation can generate much more than just a few likes on a social network.
Escaping reality should not be an option=
I know that all this speech seems dystopian and for the reality of a few decades or years ago, it is. But it is no longer so.
As mentioned, the dead internet theory is a conspiracy theory, and like any good conspiracy theory, it is nothing more than a simplistic explanation for a very complex problem. Bad things don’t need a big villain behind them to happen; sometimes, they just happen.
The theory seeks to explain a real problem that has been happening for some time, and because of that, it carries a certain amount of truth. But you need to stay grounded in reality and think.
The internet in the spotlight is controlled by large companies that own the platforms. The content posted has become increasingly synthetic, following the guidelines of an algorithm that thinks it knows what people want, but which follows the guidelines of those who control it.
But a lot of the content you see is generated by humans. The photos and videos are real. Some of us may be going through a process of robotization, following the algorithm’s wave, but we are still human.
You are the protagonist of your life, but you are not the protagonist of the entire world – regardless of how famous you are. The spotlight is not on you. There is no global organization directly interested in what you will buy or consume. There is no elaborate plan for domination, and if there were, you would most likely not be an important step in it. Neither me nor you.
If today web traffic is mostly driven by robots, this is just a reflection of our reality and its needs – whether good or bad. But if tomorrow everyone decides to leave the internet, its meaning will disappear.
Theories like the dead internet thrive in environments of fear. The arrival of AI, for example, has put the jobs and consequently the livelihood of many at risk – and that is true; but guiding the debate based on something irrational, placing the blame on single, evil villains, is more like something out of a superhero movie.
And if we measure everything with the same ruler, perhaps the future will be better. In it, we will be able to find real and authentic people outside the internet, without the influence of algorithms, and artificial intelligence, from so much feedback, has become uninteresting to human eyes.
But regardless of the future, we still have physical control of the internet. If anything happens, we just have to unplug it.