The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 45: It's All FAKE | The Dead Internet Theory

Episode Date: June 26, 2022

What if all of our online existence is fake?   You, me, everyone; we're living in a real-life Matrix. Designed to distract us from the truth: that we're just drones in a digital ant-hill. We live, work and die so that the wealthy and powerful can grow more wealthy and powerful.   This is called the Dead Internet Theory. And there's compelling evidence that it's real.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your tread's worn down or you need a new wheel, wherever you go, you can get it from our Tread Experts. Toyo's open country family of tires will get you through tough weather in a variety of terrains. Until May 31st, save up to $100 in rebates on select Toyo tires. Find a Toyo Tread Experts dealer near you at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there at treadexperts.ca. Hey, it's your buddy AJ from the Y-Files. And Hecklefish.

Right, and Hecklefish. We just wanted to tell you that if you want to start a podcast, Spotify makes it easy. It'd have to be easy for humans to understand it. Will you stop that? I'm just saying. Spotify for Podcasters lets you record and edit podcasts from your computer. I don't have a computer. Do you have a phone? Of course

I have a phone. I'm not a savage. Well, with Spotify, you can record podcasts from your phone, too. Spotify makes it easy to distribute your podcast to every platform and you can even earn money. I do need money. What do you need money for? You kidding? I'm getting killed on guppy support payments. These 3X wives are expensive. You don't want to support your kids? What are you need money for? You kidding? I'm getting killed on guppy support payments. These 3X wives are expensive.

You don't want to support your kids? What are you, my wife's lawyer now? Never mind. And I don't know if you noticed, but all Y-Files episodes are video, too. And there's a ton of other features, but you... But we can't be here all day. Will you settle down? I need you to hurry up with this stupid commercial.

I got a packed calendar today. I'm sorry about him. Anyway, check out Spotify for Podcasters. It's free, no catch, and a packed calendar today. I'm sorry about him. Anyway, check out Spotify for podcasters. It's free, no catch, and you could start today. Are we done? We're done, but you need to check your attitude. Excuse me, but I don't have all day to sit here and talk about Spotify. This would go a lot faster if you would just let me get through it. What if I told you that most, if not all of your online existence is fake? The articles you read, the Twitter accounts you follow, even this video you're watching

right now, it's all fiction created by artificial intelligence whose job is to keep you clicking on content that doesn't matter and keep you buying products that you don't need. You, me, everyone, we're living in a real-life matrix designed to distract you from the truth that we're just drones in a digital anthill. We live, work, and die so that the wealthy and powerful can grow more wealthy and powerful. This is called the dead internet theory and there's some compelling evidence that it's real. Let's find out why. The core premise of the dead internet conspiracy says that most internet content and the consumers of that content are fake. They don't exist.

So how much content on the internet is actually created by AI? Actually, it's more than you think. Studies say that only about 50% of web traffic is human. And that number is going down every year. In 2013, the Times reported that half of YouTube traffic was bots masquerading as people. And this was so scary that YouTube employees were worried about an inflection point where their algorithms would be so overwhelmed by bot traffic that they couldn't tell what was real, eventually seeing actual human traffic as fake.

They called this event the inversion. Ominous. It is. I see these bots on this channel. Most days I get 10 or 20 comments. It should be more. It should, but that's not my point. But sometimes I wake up and I've got a thousand comments and they're all very generic comments

posted by people with very generic usernames and they're not watching the videos. Subscribers to this channel watch 60%, 70%, even 100% of each video. You people who watch 100%, we salute you. We do. But the bots, they're watching for 10 seconds and then leaving a weird comment and then moving on to watch another video for 10 seconds. When I look at the channel's stats after a wave of bots, it's like locusts.

It's swift and it's destructive. So why is this happening? What's it about? Money. Money. Take Facebook. Do we have to? We do. It's been alleged that Facebook has been overstating its reach and misrepresenting its data for years. In 2018, a Facebook product manager emailed colleagues that their metrics are quote unquote, a lawsuit waiting to happen. What happened? A lawsuit. I see what you did there. It's a class action suit filed by Facebook advertisers. They claim that Facebook overestimates its traffic by between 150 and 900 percent. Now, Facebook claims they only overstate their traffic by 60 to 80%. Either way, it's fake traffic.

It's fake traffic. But the money Facebook collects from advertisers, that's real money. If you're a business and you spend money on online ads, you want your ads viewed by actual people, not viewed like this. What the hell am I looking at? This is a Chinese click farm. Hundreds or thousands of bots are currently clicking on videos, leaving comments, creating engagement, row after row of smartphones, watching videos, and more importantly, watching the ads. Now the platforms know this is happening,

but they aren't in a rush to change it. According to the leaked emails, Facebook knows that there are millions of duplicate accounts on the platform, but it leaves them active on purpose. An internal analysis claimed that removing fake accounts would cause a drop of 10% or more of Facebook's numbers. Is that a lot? Well, last year, Facebook took in $84 billion in ad revenue. That's actually grotesque. I agree. Facebook is not going to give up 20%, 10%, or even 1% of that money. The numbers are too large. This is billions of dollars. Now, to be fair, Facebook says these allegations are without merit,

and we will defend ourselves vigorously. But, mere hours after the lawsuit was made public, Facebook changed its policy to say potential customer reach is an estimate, not a guarantee of actual customer reach. Your mileage may vary. Exactly. So, bots for profit. Totally predictable.

But is it darker than that? It's darker. According to the dead internet theory, much darker. If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your dread's worn down or you need a new wheel, We'll be right back. Toyo Tires. Find a Toyo Tread Experts dealer near you at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there. TreadExperts.ca. You searched for your informant who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth.

While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth.

While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. Like so many good conspiracy theories, the dead internet theory started out in some of the darker corners of the web. Places like 4chan, Wizardchan, and Agora Road. The first person to put a name to it goes by the online handle Illuminati Pirate. Name checks out.

The theory goes like this. Sometime around 2016, the internet started becoming sterilized and homogenized. Content that was always generated by humans was now being generated by AI bots. And the bots are subtle. They're designed to sound human and blend into the background. But if we look a little more closely, eerie patterns seem to emerge. On Twitter, there's a type of account that uses a certain formula. First, the profile pictures aren't people. They're usually anime characters or hearts or

stars or other generic looking icons. And the colors are soft, usually pink, purple, or light blue. Posts are short, written in all lowercase, and contain the same kind of message. I'm young. I have a crush. I enjoy simple things. I'm optimistic, but most of all, I'm relatable. People who believe the dead internet theory say they've been seeing the same content repurposed over and over for years. Supermoon! Right. Every year we're slammed with articles about the supermoon. Murder hornets! Murder hornets. Every year we're slammed with articles about the supermoon. Murder hornets.

Murder hornets. Every year. Climate change. Oh. Climate change is real. You believe anything. That's for another time. So why?

Why is content on the internet so bland and repetitive? Well, according to the dead internet theory, and this is a quote, it's because the U.S. government is engaging in an artificial intelligence-powered gaslighting of the entire world population. Get my tinfoil hat! Coming up! The original post about the dead internet theory says that a few online influencers are working with corporations and the United States government in order to manipulate our behavior and manipulate how we think. Well, as far as social media platforms go, this is true. Take Facebook again.

Hey, let me ask you, is Facebook evil? Uh, they're very profitable. You didn't answer my question. Nope. On Facebook, you're shown posts that you're likely to engage with. So politics wise, you're going to be shown an overwhelming amount of content that supports your worldview, which keeps you on the platform, which keeps you clicking on ads. And you're also going to be shown political posts that make you angry, prompting you to respond, which keeps you on the platform and keeps you clicking on ads.

You won't see a lot of posts saying, you know, I may disagree with your opinion, but I respect and support your right to have that view. Now, let's discuss the issues on which we actually agree, of which there are many. Facebook profits by having you produce dopamine, which keeps you clicking, and cortisol and adrenaline, which keeps you clicking. How does Facebook know what content keeps you on the platform? Well, you tell them all the time time. With every link you click, every site you visit, and how long you spend on those sites. Now, don't take my word for it. Here's Mark Zuckerberg. I wish I could keep telling you that our mission in life is connecting people, but it isn't. We just want to predict your future behaviors. Spectre showed me how to manipulate you

into sharing intimate data about yourself and all those you love for free. The more you express yourself, the more we own you. He said that? Well, technically no, but that's exactly what Facebook does. Which leads to another part of the dead internet theory. I'm confused. That wasn't Mark Zuckerberg, that was a deepfake. Which is?

A computer generated video made to look like a human. And deepfakes, they're getting good. I'm going to show you some magic. It's the real thing. I mean, it's all the real thing. Even Tom Cruise has a TikTok. Yeah, that wasn't Tom Cruise. Deep fake? Deep fake.

The technology uses artificial intelligence to sort through hundreds or thousands of images to find frames that match the actual person in the video. But millions, I mean millions of people thought those videos were real. Well, we're not crazy enough to trust Zuckerberg. Are we? And nobody's crazy enough to trust Zuckerberg, are we?

And nobody's crazy enough to trust an actor, right? We're going to do that. We're going to do that. That's why you're here. But what about a deepfake from a trusted world leader? President Trump is a total and complete d***. Now, you see, I would never say these things, at least not in a public address, but someone else would. Now that video was a joke and created by Jordan Peele, but what if in today's climate, someone released a video of a politician saying something racist or radical? The media would believe it.

Well, of course the media would believe it. They believe everything. A deep fake is a computer simulation of a real person and people are fooled by that. But what about a computer simulation of a completely artificial person? Could people are fooled by that. But what about a computer simulation of a completely artificial person? Could people be fooled by that? I don't like where this is going. Michaela Souza is an Instagram influencer with over 3 million followers. Lil Michaela, as she's known,

is a Brazilian-born model who posts about her glamorous LA lifestyle. Photo shoots, product endorsements, and all the typical bumper sticker social activism that Instagram models are known for. She sounds pretty hollow. Well, how's this for hollow? In 2018, Mikaela's account was hacked and it was revealed that she was completely fake. Computer generated. Oh no. Her fans couldn't believe it. Eventually, a media slash marketing company called Brud confessed that she wasn't real. Did her fans abandon her? Nope. Since then, she's amassed about two million more followers. Do they know she's fake? Well, some do. Most don't care. And Michaela

doesn't bring it up. So this is dangerous. More dangerous than you think. This is a completely fake computer generated character created by humans. Okay, but there is a piece of technology that is completely autonomous, runs on artificial intelligence on its own, and is programmed to kill humans. Rise into machines! You sailed beyond the horizon, in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. There's a drone quadcopter called Kargu 2, produced by defense contractor STM, developed in Turkey. Kargu 2 uses machine learning to classify and identify threats. Then, completely on their own, swarms of drones working together will attack their target. According to the UN, the drones are programmed to attack targets without requiring an operator. In effect, a true fire, forget, and find capability.

They just analyze a bunch of data and decide, yes, that's a murder target, without any human analyzing their work. But I love a car. These things have killed people. Oh, yeah. Since 2018, they've been deployed by the Turkish military, both foreign and domestically. It's currently killing people in Ukraine. How many people were whacked? Oh, they won't say. Of course. Well, let's put these pieces together now. As the algorithms get better and better at showing us content to keep us engaged, what's to stop those algorithms from actually creating the content to keep us engaged? Nothing. Nothing. And isn't that the natural progression of this?

A Google whistleblower has said that Google has algorithms that can write other algorithms. Google's AutoML Zero does exactly this. What does Google say? Well, Google says the allegations are false. That means it's definitely true. Look, if artificial intelligence can create social media accounts, attract millions of followers, generate billions of dollars, influence elections and drop bombs on people all without human intervention.

Well, the Internet really is dead and real living people, people like you and me are here to do nothing more than feed it our money and our knowledge. So these systems can become smarter and even more powerful. Now, Facebook is launching Metaverse, where you experience your entire life online through virtual reality. If you think online culture is toxic now, wait until we're spending all of our time there. The Metaverse is going to make us long for the good old days of the Matrix.

And where's Neo when you need him? Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. My name is AJ, That's Hecklefish. This has been the Y-Files. If you had fun or learned anything, do me a favor. Subscribe, like, share, comment. All that stuff really helps the channel. The algorithm has not been kind to us.

Videos like this don't help. That's true. But with your help, we can overcome. Until next time, be safe, be kind, and know that you are appreciated. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms.

Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible.