The Dead Internet Theory

What if most of the internet isn't real? In this episode, we unpack the Dead Internet Theory — from its origins on an obscure vaporwave forum to the Imperva report confirming bots now generate 51% of all web traffic.We follow the trail through Shrimp Jesus engagement farms, Russia's AI-powered disinformation networks, a $2 bot that can flood the web with 10,000 fake comments, and the spectacular 60-day collapse of Digg's relaunch.Along the way, we meet a KGB defector who predicted all of this in 1985, a French president who received a deepfake of his own overthrow, and the CEO of OpenAI getting compared to a man in a hot dog suit.The internet might not be dead — but it's on life support, and the nurses are bots.Got a story of your own? Something unexplained? Something that still keeps you up at night?Send it to talesfromthedarkyt@gmail.com or message me directly at patreon.com/talesfromthedark. Your story could be next.We would love to see more of you! Head over to Facebook and join the Tales From The Dark group to keep up with up to date information and current investigations!If you love the show and want to get more exclusive content, check out our Patreon at patreon.com/talesfromthedark !Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tales-from-the-dark--5003311/support.