The Dead Internet Theory
from Behind the digital curtain Hosted by Sergio Sanchez
Last year, the cybersecurity firm Imperva published their 2025 Bad Bot Report, and they found something that should keep you up at night. In 2024, for the very first time in internet history, more than half of all web traffic, 51% to be exact, was not generated by human beings. Machines. Talking to machines. While we watch. It's like pulling up to a 7-Eleven at 3 AM and realizing every customer is a robot. The cashier is a robot. The guy eating a hot dog by the slushie machine. Also a robot. The only real creature is the raccoon in the parking lot. And honestly at this point I trust the raccoon more. Today on Behind the Digital Curtain, we're going to talk about one of the most unsettling theories in the digital world: The Dead Internet Theory. And before you say conspiracy theory, let me stop you. This one has academic papers. Hard data. And it even has Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the guy who literally built the thing, complaining about it on Twitter. Which is the greatest irony of the 21st century. The man who gave AI the tools to flood the internet is now alarmed that the internet is flooded with AI. That's like the inventor of the leaf blower being upset about noise pollution.
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