The Dead Internet Theory

 The internet does not exist, and all online content is generated by bots.

After flat earthen and anti-vaccines, the time has come for the supporters of the Dead Internet Theory.

According to this relatively new and quite surprising conspiracy theory, the internet as we know it has been non-existent for about 4-5 years, and what we are dealing with today is largely made by bots. They publish a large part of the content or comments on social media, claiming to be people.

The theory gained popularity due to an entry on the Agora Road Macintosh Cafe online forum.

In January this year, a user with the nickname IlluminatiPirate, who privately is the operations manager of a Californian logistics company, created a forum thread titled 'The Dead Internet Theory: Most Internet is Fake'. The author explains there in a rather vulgar way that a large part of it is managed by artificial intelligence and filled with bots. These, in turn, would be supported by a group of initiated influencers.

Who and why would care about creating an imitation of the Internet? The answer will not surprise you, because the 'torturers' are the same as most other conspiracy theories - they are large corporations that work with the government. They and their managers would spread propaganda, control our thoughts and ultimately persuade us to buy the products.

Well, there is probably a grain of truth in this and many other conspiracy theories.

First, it cannot be denied that the internet as we know it today looks very different from the same place a few years ago. Algorithms are becoming more complicated and tracking mechanisms are becoming more advanced. The online world is much more controlled than before. Much of the content we come across on the internet has actually been passed through the artificial intelligence filter.

The Dead Internet theory is quite niche for now, but more forums and threads on Reddit are slowly entering. Caroline Busta, the founder of the Berlin media platform New Models, recently referred to this theory in her speech at an event organized by the KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin. She admitted that much of the post is just paranoid fantasies, but the general idea seems to be right. Speculations about the validity of the theory also began to appear on the widely read Hacker News forum and among fans of Linus Tech Tips - a YouTube channel.

Even if there is something to it and some of the content was created by bots, you can be sure - some of your friends 'Insta posts, memes or politicians' tweets bots would not come up with.

Conspiracy theory claims the internet has been "dead" since 2016. A conspiracy theory is that the internet has been "dead" for several years and most of the content found there was created by bots. some US media recently released this fancy assumption.

The earth would be flat, the coronavirus vaccines would contain 5g microchips ... these are some of the weirdest and sometimes dangerous conspiracy theories circulating on the internet.

Another of these fanciful "assumptions" was recently unveiled by the American magazine the atlantic: "dead internet".

According to this conspiracy theory, the web didn't really exist for several years and much of the content posted on the web, including the poems you are reading now, would be created by robots (which is not the case here).

Where did this theory come from?

Journalist Kaitlyn Tiffany, author of an investigation published on the atlantic on August 31, 2021, first learned about the theory on the English-language online discussion forum agora road's macintosh cafe. an exchange platform originally devoted to vaporwave culture, an artistic movement related in particular to the electronic music genre. users sometimes discuss conspiracy theories there.

The "dead internet" postulate was first developed in a long text published on January 5, 2021 by a user with the pseudonym illuminatipirate (a reference to another popular conspiracy theory). the title of his message: "Dead Internet Theory: Most Networks are Bad."

An anonymous author told the Atlantic that he was the chief operating officer of a logistics company in California, in the western United States.

The theory he describes in his message "was originally written" by users of other online discussion platforms, he explains.

What does this theory say?

According to this theory, the internet network would be "dead" in 2016 or 2017. by "dead" author of a post posted on the forum means that the web appears "empty and devoid of any human" and "completely sterile".

It should be noted that the postulate is quite chaotic. The author of the news cites "artificial intelligence networks", that is, robots that collaborate with "paid secret influencers" by people who are not mentioned (sic!). they would be lagging behind "a large proportion of allegedly human-produced content posted on the internet."

Their goal would be to "create consumers who buy a growing range of newly standardized cultural products."

The Internet user still provides several elements which, in his opinion, would allow him to "support" his theory. thus, among the users he had contact with on the internet, "they all evaporated without leaving any traces." and "I see the same discussions, the same photos and the same responses posted over and over over the years," he repeated.

The "dead internet" theory is "a niche" among conspiratorial ideas, says the Atlantic, although it is "widespread". A Spanish-language video on this topic, posted on YouTube, has been viewed over 260,000 times since May 2021.

Why is it wrong?

The internet is not "dead" and the content you discover there is not entirely machine created. on the other hand… it is true that much of the content on the internet is created by robots.

According to US cybersecurity company imperva, in 2020 40% of global internet traffic came from "bots". "Bot"? is "autonomous and automatic software" as defined by the specialized website le journal du net.

In detail, 25.6% of these "bots" were described as "malicious" and 15.2% liked "benevolent".

What are these bots doing? some of them are "chatbots", conversational robots used to provide information to internet users in an automated manner.

Others are used to generate false impressions on streaming platforms (online distribution) and thus allow holders of certain accounts to sell ads at a higher price, the US New York magazine pointed out in a long article dedicated in 2018.

Some of these "bots" are also used to spread false information or create deepfakes, very realistic videos but completely artificial and often used for malicious purposes.

So many elements which, if they exist, do not make the "dead internet" conspiracy theory realistic.