The internet is increasingly becoming a playground for scams, bots, and hollow content, and it’s high time we addressed this issue head-on. In recent years, the proliferation of AI and bot-driven content has turned social media platforms into a cesspool of fake interactions and engagement bait. This phenomenon isn’t just limited to Twitter; it’s widespread across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and even Facebook. The result is a digital landscape where genuine human interaction is being drowned out by automated accounts and deceptive practices.
One of the most egregious examples of this trend is the rise of fake “Karen” videos—staged clips of people acting outrageously entitled, designed to provoke strong reactions and drive engagement. These videos thrive because they blend seamlessly with genuine content, exploiting our inability to distinguish between real and fake. The motivation behind these scams is simple: engagement equals money. The more people interact with these posts, the more ad revenue and visibility the creators earn.
But the issue extends beyond just fake videos. The internet is flooded with AI-generated content, from low-quality art to fraudulent academic papers. The recent retraction of a paper featuring an AI-generated image of a rat’s anatomy highlights the ease with which fake content can infiltrate even the most reputable platforms. The line between engagement bait and outright scams is increasingly blurred, making it difficult for users to navigate the digital world without falling prey to deception.
Twitter, under Elon Musk’s leadership, exemplifies this problem. Musk’s promise to combat bots by charging for Twitter Blue has backfired spectacularly. Instead of eliminating bots, the platform has become even more saturated with them. The introduction of paid verification has only made it easier for bots to gain visibility, further eroding the quality of interactions on the site. This has led to a situation where genuine users are being driven away, leaving behind a wasteland of automated accounts and scammy content.
The problem isn’t confined to social media. Even search engines like Google are becoming less reliable, inundated with low-quality content designed to game the system. A simple search for “car” might yield results for real estate associations and unrelated products, thanks to the relentless pursuit of search engine optimization (SEO) by various entities. This degradation of search quality is a symptom of a broader issue: the internet is increasingly driven by profit rather than genuine utility.
The rise of content aggregators and engagement farmers further exacerbates the problem. Accounts like Spectator Index and Visegrad24 post sensationalist headlines with little to no context, driving engagement through outrage and confusion. These posts often lack links to credible sources, making it difficult for users to verify the information. This practice is particularly dangerous during crises, as it spreads misinformation and fuels panic.
The solution to this growing problem isn’t straightforward, but one thing is clear: the current model of social media and internet content creation is unsustainable. The relentless pursuit of engagement and profit has led to a digital environment where scams and bots thrive, and genuine human interaction is increasingly rare. Instead of trying to patch up a broken system, perhaps it’s time to let it collapse and rebuild from the ground up.
In the past, the internet was a place where people created and shared content for the sheer joy of it. Forums, personal websites, and niche communities thrived, fostering genuine connections and creativity. To reclaim this spirit, we need to move away from the current model of social media that prioritises profit over substance. This might mean embracing smaller, community-driven platforms and rejecting the hollow content that dominates today’s internet.
In conclusion, the internet as we know it is in dire need of a reset. The proliferation of scams, bots, and engagement bait has turned it into a hollow shell of its former self. By letting the current system collapse and rebuilding with a focus on genuine human interaction, we can create a digital landscape that is once again vibrant, creative, and authentic. It’s a radical solution, but one that may be necessary to save the internet from itself.