[betwixthewires]

I read that thread a while ago. While I'm not so convinced by the conspiracy rhetoric itself, I think it is plainly obvious that a good chunk of the social parts of the internet are gamed. You've got tons of bots, influencers buying influence instead of generating it, you've got information blackouts, attempts to manipulate discussion, all sorts of things like that. The old saying "everyone is a bot but you" is funny because it is far fetched, but also funny because there's a nugget of truth there.

I wouldn't say the internet is devoid of real people, but it is definitely less useful for real interaction than it used to be.