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: .

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The Dead Internet Theory is an episode from Tales From The Dark by Tales From The Dark.

This episode is 31:27 long.

This episode was published on Mar 27, 2026.

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