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What is the ‘Dead Internet Theory’ and is it real?
With the ceaseless growth of AI since 2022, conspiracies surrounding the so-called ‘Dead Internet Theory’ have grown stronger. First thing’s first, though, what the hell is it and does it have any credibility?
Is this an online rabbit hole worth getting lost in? Is it pure storm in a teacup? Did a human even write this article? So many questions.
If you spend any significant amount of time on Twitter (X) or Reddit, chances are you’ve already seen something about ‘Dead Internet Theory’.
Arising from the tendrils of 4Chan around eight years ago from origins hard to pinpoint, the theoretical concept is that bots usurped the presence of people on the internet in the 2010s.
The belief is that the vast majority of internet traffic, social media posts, and users have been replaced by a faceless digital army and that people no longer shape the direction of the world wide web.
Hence, as us mortals give way to the machines and their inorganic content, the internet is described as ‘dead’. That’s the short version anyway. Thanks ChatGPT.
