Lately, a lot of the comments, posts, and even replies I see online feel fake, repetitive, or AI-generated, and it’s making the internet feel less real. I’m trying to figure out if this is just my feed changing or if the dead internet theory is becoming a real problem. I need help understanding what signs to look for and how other people are dealing with bots, spam, and low-quality content online.
Yeah, you’re seeing a real shift.
Dead internet theory as a total claim, where most of the web is bots talking to bots, still feels exaggerated. But parts of it are becoming true in practice. Fast.
A few reasons:
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AI spam is cheap.
One person with a script pumps out thousands of posts, replies, reviews, and scraped articles. That changes what your feed looks like. -
Platforms reward volume.
Feeds push engagement. Rage bait, reposts, copied jokes, fake stories, and AI sludge all perform well enough to spread. -
Bot detection is weak.
A lot of fake accounts don’t need to fool everyone. They only need to fool the algorithm for a few hours. -
Real people now write like bots.
Short templates. Same phrases. Same takes. Same pacing. AI didn’t start all of this, but it made it worse.
There’s data behind the vibe too. Amazon has had major issues with fake reviews for years. X, Reddit, Facebook, and YouTube all deal with bot nets and coordinated posting. Some studies on web traffic have estimated a huge share of internet activity comes from automated sources, though not all of it is malicious. A chunk is crawlers and legit automation. Still, the fake stuff is up. You can feel it.
Your feed is also part of the problem. Recommendation systems learn what keeps you scrolling, not what feels human. If you pause on weird repetitive content, you get more of it. Kinda dumb, but taht’s how it works.
What helps:
Curate harder.
Use smaller communities.
Follow people with a track record.
Sort by newest sometimes.
Block liberally.
Spend less time in algorithm feeds and more time in forums, private groups, newsletters, Discords, niche sites.
So no, the whole internet isn’t dead. But some public parts feel half-automated now. And yeah, it’s getitng worse.
Yeah, kinda, but I think people jump too fast from “this feels fake” to “the internet is mostly fake now.”
What’s happening is more uneven than that. The biggest, most public platforms are getting flooded with low-effort content, sure. But that doesn’t mean the whole web is dead. It means the most visible layers of it are being optimized into mush. That’s different.
I agree with @himmelsjager on the general shift, but I’d push back a little on the idea that the problem is mainly bots. A lot of the uncanny feeling comes from real humans adapting to platform incentives. People copy the same tone, same joke format, same outrage cycle, same “thread voice,” because originality gets buried and repetition gets rewarded. So sometimes it’s not bot talk. It’s people behaving like feed-trained NPCs. Bit harsh, but c’mon, you can see it.
Also, AI is making the “default internet voice” flatter. Even legit users now draft replies with tools, clean them up, and post them. Not evil, just noticeable. Everything starts sounding weirdly polished or weirdly generic.
My honest take: the internet feels less real when identity gets detached from stakes. If nobody risks being known, challenged, or remembered, content turns disposable fast. That’s why smaller spaces still feel alive. People build reputations there. Their words actually stick.
So no, dead internet theory isn’t fully “coming true.” But the mass-feed version of the internet is def getting hollowed out in real time. Not dead. More like plastic.