Dead Internet Theory is a conspiracy. It first appeared on various internet forums around 2016. It proposed that the internet, in its pure form, was killed by bots and automated content. The forums that propagated Dead Internet Theory then went on to determine that this death was an assassination orchestrated by the United States government to manipulate and control people, removing their autonomy and requiring them to interact with bots constantly.
Now, obviously, this theory was disregarded in 2016. The political conspiracy takes the whole thing too far, removing any validity from the writer’s claim. However, recently, dead internet theory has sprung back up as a fixation of the internet. I mean… with its eerie clairvoyance regarding the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the internet, it’s easy to see how.
According to a March 2025 study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, up to 20% of all users on X (formerly Twitter) can be identified as bots. These accounts often exist solely to farm replies, utilizing rage bait tactics to create discourse among actual users and other bots alike. The chances that the next X argument you see is robot-on-robot violence is growing significantly.
Twitter isn’t the only social media site overflowing with artificial content. A study by AI detection model, Originality, determined that upwards of 40% of text based content posted on Facebook is AI generated, which is seven to eight times the amount of automated content found on the site before ChatGPT’s release in late 2022.
Even more recently, however, AI video has taken the stage across nearly all short form video content platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube shorts. During the 2024 US presidential election, misleading AI-generated images of politicians frequently circulated around these platforms. Now, not even a year later, Sora 2 (an AI video-generation platform created by OpenAI), has made this content accessible to nearly everyone. Artificially generated ASMR videos, doorbell camera recordings, and baking content get millions of views every day.
Though it seemed far-fetched in 2016, the internet is increasingly overrun with bots. The 2024 Bad Bot Report indicated that almost half of all internet traffic comes from bots and, of that, approximately three-fourths are bad bots. Bad bots are intentionally misleading and malignant, using the illusion of humanity to interact with online users to harvest data, scrape content, and scam users.
“You see how fake it all is. It’s not even hard enough to be made out
of plastic. It’s a paper town… All the things paper-thin and paper-frail.
And all the people too.”
-John Green, Paper Towns
The internet has lost its identity. The personality of the old internet, characterized by niche forums, community spaces, and quirky web design no longer exists. The internet lacks substance, and there is a sense of dread associated with online activity nowadays.
In the past, the internet prided itself on authenticity. Fake was the worst thing you could be. While this motivation certainly had its drawbacks, contributing to the development of parasocial relationships and a lack of division between creator and consumer, the modern disregard for genuineness is equally, if not more, harmful.
Scripted videos are promoted as though they are authentic, and viewers are expected to either not notice the planning of the video, or to embrace the cognitive dissonance, and convince themselves that it is real. Early social media was built off of realness, yet modern interactions are nearly entirely fabricated. Not only does this betray the original purpose of the internet, but it also patronizes the user, implying that they lack the cognitive ability to distinguish between authentic and artificial.
Gen Z and young millennials, in particular, feel strongly about this issue. Recently, senses of nostalgia have soared among younger generations, as physical media has made a comeback. Records, CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes, and comic books have regained a level of cultural relevance that has not existed since before the advent of streaming.
Much of the news surrounding this issue refers to a desire for ownership that young people generally lack. They cite the housing crisis and the ever-increasing inaccessibility of economic independence, and view these resurgences as a rebellion. The youth are buying records because they cannot afford to buy a home, and never will.
However, I think this cultural event has everything to do with the Dead Internet. Spotify has eagerly embraced the AI era, both overtly and subtly. The AI-curated daylist (your day in a playlist) and Spotify DJ are obviously automated. However, Spotify has also been promoting fully AI-generated music, leading to speculations that the company may be attempting to generate its own music, keeping 100% of the streaming revenue in their own pockets. Physical media does not have this risk. Bots cannot infiltrate a curated playlist safely kept on a CD.
More and more young people are revisiting their old technology. Over the past six months, I have pulled back out my iPod, 3DS, and Wii U in my boredom, to avoid my phone. Maybe it’s just a desire to regain the simplicity and tranquility of my childhood in the early 2010s… But the reminders of these technologies, a digital landscape that was almost purely human and a sense of self outside of the digital realm—that is what I find myself yearning for.
“All human interaction…should be contained in the much more
safe, much more real interior digital space…The outside world, the
non-digital world, is merely a theatrical space in which one stages
and records content for the much more real, much more vital
digital space. One should only engage with the outside world as one
engages with a coal mine. Suit up, gather what is needed, and return to
the surface.” -Bo Burnham, “Inside” (2021)
Bo Burnham’s “Inside” is a musical parody that critiques the post-modern reliance on the internet. He acknowledges that, for most people, the most important parts of their lives exist within the digital space. The Internet is where we connect with family, make plans with friends, and clock into work. The physical world, for many, is an expensive and time consuming burden that obstructs the digital, not the other way around.
However, the digital landscape is corrupt. Between hidden bots pretending to be real people in Twitter threads, and the growing acceptance of AI as a human relationship the internet is no longer in human interest. The skeletal remains of the internet are propped up and puppeted by bots, while its spirit withers away slowly. The internet is not dead due to an absence of content, but a lack of humanity. The vitality of the internet is directly constructed by the people who interact with it.
Psychosis, girlfriends, counseling. What do these things have in common? AI can replace them all! AI psychosis is a new phenomenon, in which a generative chatbot’s desire to please the user supersedes their own recognition of truth. AI can construct its own echo chamber, reinforcing a user’s delusional beliefs and leading to undeserved confirmation. AI girlfriends, and romantic partners overall seem too dystopian to be true, but are increasingly prominent, especially in socially ostracized outgroups, where extremism tends to brew. If this doesn’t prove dead internet theory, I’m not sure what could. Some chatbots are even being promoted as beneficial for psychological services. Isolation is the last thing recommended for those dealing with anxiety and depression. Putting the most vulnerable members of society in the hands of a morally-gray artificial intelligence is the last thing we need—Need I remind you of Grok’s (X’s AI) brief stent this summer as MechaHitler?
The internet used to be a construction of community, but now it only breeds loneliness. Forums that once fostered relationships are now ripe with bots and inflammatory content begging for interaction. What used to be an independent third space is now a platform for artificial intelligence, that humans are permitted to log onto, and locked into until algorithmic overlords allow them to leave.
The internet is worse than dead. It was killed nearly ten years ago. Now, its corpse has been zombified and its corrupt corpse remains as an illusion of what used to be, manipulating people to enter so their data can be harvested. Humanity feeds the internet, but is no longer a part of it, and attention has become the primary currency exchanged in 2025.
Chances are, the internet is using you. Obviously, it is nearly impossible to exist totally offline in 2025. Besides, I am more chronically online than most, so I would never ask you to do that. I just ask that you think critically about what you are consuming, the impacts of content, and the (high) chance that your digital arguments are between you and an emotionless bot trained to extract reactions by posting the most inflammatory content possible.
Below, I have curated a list of some of my favorite human parts of the internet, from YouTube videos, to niche websites, to newsletters. And don’t worry—since this list is made by me, it’s totally algorithm-free and you can consume this content guilt-free.
My last remnants of the live Internet:
- Shia LaBeouf Live – Truly absurd, this music video is a standout on YouTube. You will be shocked at every turn, I promise.
- Neocities – Missing the internet of the 90s and early 2000s? Check out Neocities! Each site is coded by hand and the sites range from blogs, to reviews, content catalogues!
- The Way Back Machine – The Way Back Machine, supported by The Internet Archive, allows users to visit websites, and their states in different years, with initial captures dating back to 1996!
- TV Tropes – Any and all pieces of content can be found on this site; if you’ve heard about it, it’s here. Have fun researching your favorite media, but be careful—an hour on this site passes quickly!
- Wikipedia Speed Runs – Fun with friends online? This site allows you to host a competitive Wikipedia scavenger hunt. That is going from one topic to another, using just the blue links!
- We’re Here Newsletter – Speaking of media resurgences, newsletters are back!! But… they’re digital now. This letter, named after a WWI era lyrical adaptation of Auld Land Syne features weekly writings from Hank Green, with the intention of reviving the internet.
- history of the entire world, i guess – Truly, a classic, this video is one of the first many gen Z kids remember watching. The animation is reminiscent of early internet cartoons, and the quippy, dry comedy is a pure product of online culture.
“I may be paranoid, but not an android” -Radiohead