Dead Internet theory

The dead Internet theory is an online conspiracy theory that asserts that, due to a coordinated and intentional effort, the Internet now consists mainly of bot activity and automatically generated content manipulated by algorithmic curation to control the population and minimize organic human activity.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Proponents of the theory believe these social bots were created intentionally to help manipulate algorithms and boost search results in order to manipulate consumers.^[6][7] Some proponents of the theory accuse government agencies of using bots to manipulate public perception.^[2][6] The date given for this "death" is generally around 2016 or 2017.^[2][8][9]

The dead Internet theory has gained traction because many of the observed phenomena are quantifiable, such as increased bot traffic, but the literature does not support the full theory.^[2][4][10] Caroline Busta, founder of the media platform New Models, was quoted in an article in The Atlantic calling much of the dead Internet theory a "paranoid fantasy", even if there are legitimate criticisms involving bot traffic and the integrity of the internet, but she said she does agree with the "overarching idea".^[2] In an article in The New Atlantis, Robert Mariani called the theory a mix between a genuine conspiracy theory and a creepypasta.^[6] The dead Internet theory is sometimes used to refer to the observable increase in content generated via large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT appearing in popular Internet spaces without mention of the full theory.^[1][11]