https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/08/dead-internet-theory-wrong-but-feels-true/619937/If you search the phrase i hate the antichrist on Twitter and scroll down, you will start to notice a pattern.
An account with the handle @pixyIuvr and a glowing heart as a profile picture tweets, “i hate the antichrist and i just want to hold ur hand,” receiving 16,000 likes. There are more of the same stuff elsewhere.
There are slight changes to exact wording and girlish username and color scheme, but the idea is the same each time.
Aome people on Twitter have wondered whether these are really, truly, just people with crushes in the age of smartphones saying something relatable. They’ve pointed at them as possible evidence validating a wild idea called “dead-internet theory.”
Let me explain. Dead-internet theory suggests that the internet has been almost entirely taken over by artificial intelligence. Like lots of other online conspiracy theories, the audience for this one is growing because of discussion led by a mix of true believers, sarcastic trolls, and idly curious lovers of chitchat.
