Spend a few minutes scrolling online and you might notice something feels off. Posts repeat, comments sound robotic, and whole conversations seem to lack a real human spark. This is the idea behind the so-called “Dead Internet Theory,” which claims that bots and algorithms are increasingly drowning out genuine voices.
According to a piece on The Conversation, researchers Jake Renzella and Vlada Rozova argue that the internet has become less about people and more about automation. Their analysis points to bizarre viral trends, like AI-generated “shrimp Jesus” memes, where comment sections were dominated not by people but by bots endlessly amplifying the content.
The numbers seem to back that up. Studies from cybersecurity firms show that bots made up roughly 42 percent of internet traffic in 2021. By 2023, that figure had climbed close to 50 percent, meaning nearly half of the clicks, likes, and shares we see may not come from humans at all. Add to that the rise of AI text and image generators flooding feeds, and the online world starts to look less like a global town square and more like a scripted simulation.
Another concern is “link rot.” A Pew Research Center study found that almost 40 percent of webpages from a decade ago have vanished, taking with them huge chunks of online history. This makes it harder to trace conversations or fact-check claims, and it gives the impression that the internet’s collective memory is disappearing.
That does not mean the theory is without critics. Some call it an exaggeration or even a conspiracy, pointing out that human-created content still thrives across platforms. What is true, however, is that algorithms now decide what most of us see, and these systems favor engagement over authenticity. If a bot-generated post sparks clicks, it will likely spread faster than a thoughtful but quieter human perspective.
So is the internet really dead? Not quite. People are still here, posting, debating, and creating. But the balance has shifted. The web is no longer just a network of human voices—it is a landscape where machines speak just as loudly, and sometimes louder, than we do.