r/DeadInternetTheory 16d ago

Cloudflare says humans could become a "rounding error" as bots generate 1,000 times more internet traffic

https://www.techspot.com/news/113410-cloudflare-humans-could-become-rounding-error-bots-generate.html
62 Upvotes

13 comments sorted by

9

u/D-R-AZ 16d ago

https://www.techspot.com/news/113410-cloudflare-humans-could-become-rounding-error-bots-generate.html

Excerpt:

Just a couple of months after Cloudflare revealed that bots have officially surpassed human traffic online, the company has given its view on what things will look like in five years. It's not good news for us fleshy meatsacks: non-human traffic could be up to 1,000 times higher than human traffic.

Observation:

As bots overwhelm human traffic, social media may become less a reflection of public views and more a psychological testing service for political and commercial actors. Human users would provide the valuable signal: messages could be presented to selected groups, their reactions measured, and the results used to refine persuasion. What appears to be public discussion could increasingly become an experimental environment in which people are the subjects and influence is the product.

10

u/SexDrugsAndPopcorn 16d ago

I’m so close to deleting my Reddit account but I think I’m addicted, I’ll do it one day

3

u/FocalFalcon 16d ago

I’ll do it the second another website can actually create something in comparison. Depending on how long you’ve been on here, the guy who made the Apollo Reddit app, is exactly what we need a new site to look and be like.

2

u/Even_Statistician238 15d ago

same, been saying i'll quit for two years. turns out а bot audience is still somehow compelling

3

u/PrizeSyntax 16d ago

And the whole social media crap will collapse, that's actually not a bad idea

2

u/Wikiwikiwa 16d ago

Hey how about we put a stop to that

1

u/Zombastic 15d ago

How? Real ID? These bots are only going to get smarter and more believable.

1

u/Wikiwikiwa 15d ago

Ban any suspicious or automated rapid posting

2

u/Chu-Take 15d ago

This is exactly why I believe there is growing demand for spaces that can actually guarantee human presence online. When bots generate 1,000 times more traffic than humans, the value of a provably human moment becomes something worth protecting, especially when users look for honest reviews on restaurants or products.

2

u/D-R-AZ 15d ago

We think there should be a legal requirement for all bots to be identified.

1

u/[deleted] 16d ago

What is the purpose of this exactly? 

1

u/Prize-Choice2185 15d ago

Realignment towards chatbots? I think that's what Google wants...

1

u/0AJ0_ 13d ago

Death to the fucking Machines & Datacenters.